Wishstones
by ryo tejina
Summary: **COMPLETE** PG13 mostly for language. An alternate reality fic. A girl called Serena inherits a beautiful, silver stone and strange things begin to happen around her. Is there more to Grandma Lita's wishstone than Serena thinks? You betcha there is...
1. Prologue

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Title: Wishstones  
  
Genre: Romance/Drama/Action  
  
Rating: PG13 (language, violence, some sexual situations)  
  
Notes: This is an alternate reality fic, which means it involves the characters of Sailor Moon in a world that I invented, with personalities that I invented, but some of the same connections as in the original storyline. So even though the names are from Sailor Moon, this story does not take place within the Sailor Moon universe. If that makes any sense…^^;; Mostly, I used English first names and Japanese last names.  
  
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..~*~Wishstones~*~..  
  
  
  
*  
  
~*~  
  
Long ago, in a time far removed from time, the powers of the Earth were born in the first of the chosen ones. These entities became one with the power born into their hearts, and live in all eternity as the embodiment of the life-force of the planet. Inside the sacred stones, their spirits lie in wait, seeking the descendents of the chosen line, those who can wield the power of the crystals, the holy force that gives strength to the desire of human souls. . .  
  
~*~  
  
*  
  
  
  
Prologue:  
  
She basked in the warm silver glow that enveloped her, wondering vaguely what had pulled her to consciousness.  
  
Opening her senses, she reached out around her. His light was there, beside her, and she smiled. It always was. She was about to reach out for his psyche, when she felt it again.  
  
A tugging on her mind, like a gentle pull from the other side. That could mean only one thing. The One was born again, and ready to inherit her birthright.  
  
She readied herself and waited patiently for the tug again, and when it came, pulled hard at the same time that it did. Immediately, her vision opened. A pair of clear aquamarine eyes, sparkling with tears, was framed in a small face, slightly chubby with baby fat. Soft wisps of blonde hair escaped the tiny buns on either side of the child's head. Tears spilled over the edge of blond lashes and trickled down a soft cheek. She focused harder until she could hear the words that were coming out of the little girl's moving lips.  
  
"Oh, Grandma, why did you have to die? I don't want to move. I want to stay with you. Why did you have to leave me?"  
  
She felt her heart constrict with sympathy for the child's heartache. Slowly, she sent out a tendril of silver comfort, wrapping its warmth around the girl's quaking body. The aquamarine eyes widened and looked down at the stone in the tiny palm in surprise.  
  
~*~Ah, she feels me now.~*~  
  
"Is…is someone there?"  
  
~*~Yes, little one.~*~  
  
Wide eyes widened still more. "Who…how…who are you?"  
  
~*~I am Serenity, of the Silver Crystal.~*~  
  
"What is the Silver Crystal?"  
  
~*~You hold it in your palm. It is the keeper of my soul.~*~  
  
"But…this isn't a Silver Crystal. It's Grandma Lita's wishstone."  
  
~*~It belongs to her?~*~  
  
"Well, no, not exactly. She said she was keeping it for someone."  
  
~*~She was keeping it for you.~*~  
  
The little girl gasped with astonishment, not questioning the truth of the words. Small children have an extraordinary ability to believe without needing proof. Serenity quickly used the pathway of belief to slip effortlessly inside. She curled up deep inside the little girl's heart, and sent her one last message before pulling the memory of meeting herself out of the child's mind.  
  
~*~You are its keeper now. You are also its mistress. You were born to it, and it was created for you. Wishstone, you called it? It will grant your wishes, that is true. Whatever you desire with all your heart, it has the ability to create for you. Keep your heart strong, little one, and it will never fail you.~*~  
  
She sighed and settled back to sleep inside the girl.  
  
~*~When you need me, I will come.~*~  
  
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AN: Okay, I don't like my prologue very much, so if you don't either, please read chapter 1 anyway, it's much better I promise!!!!!!!! (can you tell I really want people to read this and review it?) 


	2. Chapter 1: The Orphan

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Drab Habitation of Whom?  
  
Tabernacle or Tomb-  
  
Or Dome of Worm-  
  
Or Porch of Gnome-  
  
Or some Elf's catacomb?  
  
--Emily Dickinson, from The Complete Poems, no. 893  
  
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Chapter One: The Orphan  
  
Serena clutched her small, well-worn handbag protectively against her chest as she stood looking up at the tall building. It was enormous, by far the largest and most grand house that she had lived in yet. Despite her extensive experience, she couldn't help feeling a familiar sense of intimidation at the thought of adjusting to a whole new life yet again, and the sight of this enormous house looming over her wasn't helping matters.  
  
Ms. Rei laid her hand sympathetically on Serena's arm. Feeling the touch, the girl realized that she had stopped in the middle of walking to look up. Giving the woman a look of appreciation for the support, she resolutely drew in a breath and began moving again. She strode to the front door and rung the resonating chimes with a calm, collected air, summoned for Ms. Rei's benefit.  
  
This would be Serena's seventh home in sixteen years since becoming an orphan, and she knew the social worker was desperately hoping it would work out this time.  
  
Not any more than I am, she thought, as the door latch was turned from the inside. Serena quickly summoned a bright, friendly smile as the door swung open, revealing a plump, middle-aged woman, who beamed at Serena with a motherly air.  
  
"Oh, come in, come in," the woman beckoned them, holding the door wide for them to step through. Serena almost tripped when she got a good look at the fancy hallway they had walked into, but managed somehow to prevent herself from falling on her face. She couldn't stop her eyes from staring, however.  
  
Wow, thanks, Ms. Rei, she breathed silently, taking in the expensive furniture, rich oriental rugs, and crystal knick-knacks displayed on glossy mahogany corner tables. The social worker must have had to pull incredible strings to land Serena, a notorious shuffler (a name used for children who tended to move from foster home to foster home in a short period of time) in such a nice home. Usually foster parents tried to avoid getting the shufflers, as they were generally 'problem children', so kids like Serena never got what could be called 'prime choice' homes. Trying to keep her eyes from popping out of her head, Serena's eyebrows shot up at the thought that *this* most certainly qualified as 'prime choice' and then some.  
  
"…and this is Mrs. Tsukino, Serena, your new foster mother," Ms. Rei's voice brought her attention quickly back to the woman who had opened the door. Once again plastering a smile on her face, she allowed herself to be enveloped in a welcoming hug. Serena awkwardly placed one hand on the woman's back, as the other was occupied with holding her bag. Mrs. Tsukino released her and stood with her hands clasped, beaming at the girl.  
  
"You can call me Irene," she gushed, cheeks bright with excitement. Serena sent a silent prayer of thanks that at least this one didn't expect to be called 'Mother' on the first day. "And when Mr. Tsukino gets home, you can call him Ken. He really wanted to be here when you arrived, but, well, you know how work can be sometimes. And this is…" The woman turned and looked about confusedly. "Well, he was just here… Sammy! Don't you want to meet Serena?" she called.  
  
Slowly, a small figure appeared from just around the corner, tow-haired head bent as he studied the floor. Serena guessed his age to be around nine or ten. He was obviously reluctant to be introduced. Serena had a lot of experience with foster siblings' resentment of their new 'sister', so she knew where his reluctance came from. Setting her shabby bag on the rich carpet, she knelt in front of the boy, so that he stood above her. Solemnly, she put out her hand. He looked at it warily, then back at Serena. She kept her expression open, with no hint of amusement. Slowly, he reached for her hand and put his in it. He shook it twice, then made a fist and bumped it on either side of hers before snapping his fingers. Serena copied his movements. Once the handshake was complete, his mother's voice spoke before either he or Serena could.  
  
"Well, Sammy, why don't you show Serena where her room is, while Ms. Rei and I straighten out a couple of last-minute things?"  
  
The boy nodded glumly, still without speaking, and lifted Serena's bag from where it sat on the floor before she could move for it. It was rather small and lightweight, as she didn't really own that much in the material way of things, and the nine-year-old had no trouble carrying it up the winding staircase. Serena followed close behind after saying goodbye to Ms. Rei. She had to hold on to the banister to keep herself from falling while she gawked openly at the marble of the stairs, the gold of the winged statues on either side of the banister, and the silver-framed portraits of the three Tsukinos.  
  
Sammy lead her down a hall to the last door on the right, which he opened with his free hand, then waited for Serena to walk through. Oh, a little gentleman, she thought in surprise. Feeling like a lady, she swept through the entrance to the largest, most beautiful room that she had ever slept in in her life.  
  
The walls were painted with a creamy mother-of-pearl, offset by the soft gold of the trim on all her furniture. A huge desk with a padded chair sat against one window, a sweeping window seat, laden with plump pillows, graced the other. A full length mirror, trimmed in swirling gold flowers and vines, was hanging across from the largest closet she had ever seen, almost like a whole other room. The queen-sized bed was draped with a gauze canopy, sprinkled with small gold stars and moons and tied back with gold ribbon. Behind the curtains of translucent material, a soft, rose-colored bedspread embroidered delicately with curling gold vines lay folded neatly over cream-colored pillows. Serena found herself quite unable to do anything but stand and stare for a few moments. The muted shades of cream, gold, and dusky pink blended with an elegance that had never graced a dwelling place of Serena's before.  
  
She sank with a sigh of utter rapture on the soft bed, then remembered for the first time upon entering that she was not alone. Sammy stood awkwardly in the doorway, holding her bag as if he had no idea what to do with it. Serena beckoned him inside, gently taking the bag from his fingers and setting it on her bed beside where she sat. She looked at the boy expectantly.  
  
He looked back at her, studying her intensely with serious green eyes. She knew she looked strange to him, with long blonde hair pulled into two buns and pigtails on either side of her head and large, clear aquamarine eyes. He stared and stared, then finally blurted, "You're not really my sister."  
  
Serena sighed. "No, I'm not."  
  
"I…I don't want a sister," the little boy confessed.  
  
"Then you shouldn't have to have one," she assured him, reasonably.  
  
"But…" Sammy was confused. "Aren't you supposed to be my new sister?"  
  
"I don't have to be, if you don't want," Serena informed him.  
  
The boy's brow wrinkled on his small forehead. "Well…what else would you be?" he asked, tentatively.  
  
Serena bestowed one of her rare true smiles upon him. "I could be your friend, if you'd like."  
  
Sammy was caught by surprise, obviously not expecting that particular answer. He studied her once again, deliberating. He had never considered girls as friends before, or really as anything besides pests. And Serena was a much older girl at that, a species that had never held his interest. But his house was very big, and very empty with Daddy at work and only Mommy home, and Sammy was a very lonely little boy.  
  
"If we're gonna be friends, we have to do a secret handshake," he informed her, at last.  
  
"I thought we already had," said Serena, remembering his greeting in the hall.  
  
"No, that was just the ordinary secret handshake," he said, knowingly. "I was just being nice that time. Friends have to do the *super* secret handshake."  
  
"Oh," she said, nodding and absorbing this piece of vital information from the nine-year-old world. With remarkable patience for his age, Sammy taught her to perform the complex movements of the super secret handshake, and they did it twice together without flaw.  
  
"Serena, Sammy," came a faint call up the stairs, through her open door. "Get ready for dinner and come on down."  
  
"That's Mom. We're supposed to wash our hands and stuff now." Sammy pulled a face at this act of basic hygiene. "Your bathroom's through that door," he said, pointing at a closed door off the left wall of her room. "I'm gonna go wash up in mine."  
  
Her bathroom? As in a bathroom all to herself? Serena wondered if she could have misheard, but he was gone before she could ask him to repeat himself. Feeling silly at being apprehensive, she crossed her pink carpeting to the cream-colored door. She opened it, and immediately sighed with delight.  
  
The bathroom was nearly as large as her room, and certainly as elegant. The ivory sink with its gold faucet matched the old-fashioned bathtub, which stood on gold-gilt feet. Pink, fluffy carpeting completed the same color scheme that her room exhibited. Serena smiled softly at the strangeness of a carpeted bathroom. She closed the door carefully, almost reverently, stroking the beautiful silk robe hanging from a hook on the inside before turning to the ivory sink. She washed her face and hands with warm water and a seashell bar of rose-scented soap. Drying her skin in a fluffy pink towel, she looked at her glowing face in the mirror and sent a silent, fervent prayer to whatever divine force might be listening.  
  
Oh, please, God, I'll do anything, just please, let it work out this time. Don't let anything happen, not this time…please…  
  
  
  
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AN: See, I like that better. Now keep reading……*starry eyes* please? 


	3. Ch. 2: Security

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Nor was I hungry; so I found  
  
That hunger was a way  
  
Of persons outside windows,  
  
The entering takes away.  
  
--Emily Dickinson, from Collected Poems, Life: LXXVI  
  
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Chapter Two: Security  
  
Two weeks later, the Tsukino household was finally beginning to adjust to Serena's presence, or perhaps her to them. In any case, after the first awkward dinner, during which Irene had talked loudly and quickly to cover the long silences between questions and answers on Serena's part, she was starting to feel as though this were a place where she belonged, instead of just a place where she was staying.  
  
Frightened at the feeling of contentment, she had tried to fight it at first. She had long ago learned that if you didn't think of the house as home, or of the people as family, then it hurt much less when they were taken away. But this was by far the nicest home she had been placed in for a long time. Sammy had immediately and permanently latched himself on to her after that first super secret handshake. Serena could see that he had been desperate for companionship for a very long time. He was shy and sensitive around strangers, and preferred the elaborate fantasy role- playing games that he created to rolling plastic trucks around in the mud, two factors that did not encourage a lot of friends his own age. He found a willing comrade in Serena, however, who delighted in the boy's vast imagination and the lighthearted feel to the play. As it was still summer, and the beautiful sunny days had no school to fill them, the teenaged girl and her small companion quite happily spent the majority of their time together, capering through the woods around the house. Sammy had not previously been allowed into this wonderful playground, but his mother decided that he was safe enough with Serena there.  
  
Serena yawned and stretched inside the gauze curtains of her bed. Pushing aside one light sheath of fabric, she read her bedside clock and did a double take. 6:12am! She shook her head in shock and looked at it again. It couldn't be that early. She never woke up before she absolutely had to, and would sleep until noon if Sammy didn't wake her up every morning. What in the world was her body doing, waking up naturally at this god-forsaken hour, actually feeling well rested? She rolled over and closed her eyes, trying to convince herself that she wanted to go back to sleep, but it was no good. She was wide awake now. There was no choice but to get up.  
  
Slipping her legs out from under the covers, she stretched again, feeling the soft material of her new pajamas, purchased by Mrs. Tsukino, slide over her skin. She padded softly across the floor to the window, luxuriating in the thick carpet beneath her bare feet. She climbed up on her window seat, hugging a creamy pillow to her chest as she looked out through the gap in her curtains to the new day. It was just barely light outside. She felt the feeling of peace and belonging start to creep over again, and for once let it wash through her instead of fighting it. Tears sprang unbidden to her eyes. It had been six years since she had allowed herself this feeling. What was it called? Oh, of course. Happiness.  
  
Both of Serena's parents had died when she was little more than a baby. She had never fully understood the circumstances surrounding their deaths; something about a car wreck or perhaps a drunk driver. With no relatives capable of taking on the care of a young child, she had been given over to the grace of the system known as foster care.  
  
Her first home had been a good one, the only good one that she could remember, for there was no trace left of her parents in her memory. A lonely old lady who had lost all her family wanted a little girl to take care of, and Ms. Rei had put Serena into her arms. It was love at first sight for both of them. Serena loved everything about Grandma Lita, and Lita loved everything about her. The lady used to say that they were both orphans together, because neither of them had any family. Then Serena would climb up on her lap to be kissed and say, "Oh, no, Grandma, *we're* each other's family."  
  
Lost in memories, Serena reached under the fabric of her pajama shirt, pulling on a thin chain that never left her neck until a gold locket touched her fingers. Lightly, she traced over the engraving on the outside, the delicate lines of the crescent moon and stars. Then she swung open the tiny hinges, carefully tipping the contents of the small container into her hand. Holding her palm up to the rays of light streaking through her window, Serena studied the way the sun attached itself to the planes of the jewel. Her wishstone.  
  
Grandma Lita had let her hold it once, long ago. The old lady had laughed at her childish delight in its beauty.  
  
"My mother gave it to me," Serena remembered Lita saying. "It will grant the wishes of the one who is meant to hold it."  
  
Little Serena had looked up at her with shining eyes: "Will it really grant all your wishes, Grandma?"  
  
"Not all of my wishes, darling. I'm holding it for her, whoever she is, like my mother did before me."  
  
The old lady died two years later, from a heart attack, and Serena received the locket in her will. Lita would have gladly left the child everything she owned, but Serena was a minor, after all, and could not own the property that her house sat on, about the only thing of value that the lady had. The house, furniture, and everything in it, save the locket, were sold at auction, and Serena was put into another home.  
  
That was when the trouble had started. Things that Serena couldn't explain, that she hadn't meant to make happen; in fact, she was not entirely sure that it was she who had made them happen, whatever her various foster families swore to. Try as she might, she just couldn't come up with any logical reason why she had escaped unscathed from a fifty foot fall, or why the cruel bullies who had been about to tackle her were suddenly writhering in pain, screaming on the ground. She tried to be careful, to stop these things from happening to her, but eventually, it was always the same. The family would get spooked or angry, and she would be once again back in Ms. Rei's office, being relocated to another home.  
  
Six years later, Serena was seventeen, and very tired of being shuffled from one home to the next. Holding her wishstone in her tightly closed fist, she prayed yet again for nothing to happen this time, so that she could stay in this place. She loved Sammy, and Mr. and Mrs. Tsukino couldn't have been nicer to her. Please, just let it work out, please. Just for a year, until I'm eighteen and I can take care of myself. Actually, she figured she was pretty capable of looking after herself now, but she was still a legal minor and required to be in foster care.  
  
Slipping the wishstone back inside the locket and then under her shirt, Serena got down from the window seat and went to her closet. After a little consideration, she picked out a pair of flared jeans and a plain navy baby- T. She shoved her new running shoes (like her pajamas, courtesy of Mrs. Tsukino) on her feet after white socks and then went down the stairs as quietly as possible. Ken Tskino had left for work about an hour ago, but Irene and Sammy were both still sleeping.  
  
In the kitchen, she poured herself a bowl of Lucky Charms, Sammy's cereal of choice. Irene had offered Serena some of her Wheat Crunch several times, seeming to think it more appropriate for a teenage girl, but Serena much preferred breakfast of a sugary kind. After adding milk, she sat down by herself to eat at the dining room table, basking in the quiet peacefulness.  
  
Halfway through her last spoonful of soggy marshmallows, she heard a strange noise. Dismissing it as Sammy or Irene waking up, she stood and carried her empty bowl to the kitchen. After she had set it in the sink, the noise came again, more clearly this time. Serena paused to listen, frowning. It sounded high and screechy, like scratching on glass. Warily, she followed the sound to the glass door leading to the back deck from the Tsukinos' living room. Drawing back the curtains, she started in surprise.  
  
Had the Tsukinos gotten a cat without telling her?  
  
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	4. Ch. 3: The Cat

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There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man.  
  
--Edgar Allan Poe, "The Black Cat"  
  
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Authors like cats because they are such quiet, lovable, wise creatures, and cats like authors for the same reasons.  
  
--Robertson Davies, "Mehitabel"  
  
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Chapter Three: The Cat  
  
Serena sat on a stool by the counter, watching the cat greedily lap up the milk she had poured for it. Immediately after finishing, the cat began to daintily wash its face and paws, not paying any attention to Serena. She studied it on eye level. It was covered in glossy black fur, like soft velvet. The only patch of light on its whole body was a small bit of fur growing right in the middle of its forehead.  
  
The cat finally finished grooming itself and studied Serena with solemn blue eyes.  
  
"Are you a boy or a girl?" she asked it, feeling silly and knowing perfectly well that she should just look and see, instead of asking like she expected an answer.  
  
The cat seemed to give her a look that said quite clearly, "Must you ask?"  
  
Serena chuckled to herself. Definitely a girl, she thought. Reaching out with one finger, she rubbed the little spot on the cat's forehead, drawing forth a small purr. The fur seemed faintly yellow somehow, an unnatural color for cat hair. And the more she looked at it, the more it seemed shaped like a crescent moon turned on its side…Or like the letter 'u', she thought sarcastically, but all the same, she whispered out loud, "Luna."  
  
"Oh! My goodness! Serena, what in the world is that…animal doing in here?" the startled voice of Mrs. Tsukino came loud and sudden behind Serena. She turned in surprise at the disgust in the woman's voice.  
  
"Well, she was outside the glass door, asking to come in. I suppose she's a stray, since she doesn't have a collar," she explained genially, trying to wipe the look of horror off Irene's face. Disgust was immediately replaced with stern-ness, something that the motherly woman had not yet exhibited in Serena's direction.  
  
"If she's a stray, we'll have to take her to the pound. We are not having an animal in this house. I have way too much good furniture to have it all destroyed by a furry little monster."  
  
Serena was shocked. She had only seen kind and loving tendencies from this woman so far, and this preference of furniture over the well-being of a living thing seemed completely out-of-character.  
  
"But, Irene, if she's brought to the pound, she'll most likely be put down before she's adopted…" Serena started to implore.  
  
The sharp shaking of Mrs. Tsukino's head interrupted her. The woman's mouth was set in a thin, hard line. "No, Serena, I'm sorry, but I simply cannot allow my home to be torn apart for the sake of a monster in feline form."  
  
~----------~  
  
Luna was purring inside the box, for some odd reason. Well, at least one of us is happy, Serena thought bitterly. Sammy walked alongside her, looking as dejected as she felt. He had always wanted a pet, but even when one practically fell into their laps, his mother still refused to let him keep it.  
  
After much cajoling from first Serena, then both her and Sammy after he woke up, Mrs. Tsukino had been talked out of condemning Luna to a certain death in the pound. However, no amount of pleading could convince her that Luna's charms were extensive enough to qualify her as a member of the Tsukino household.  
  
Thus, the box. Serena and Sammy had been told that they could either find Luna a new home somewhere in the neighborhood, or Irene would be happy to drop 'the monster' off at the local animal control office. So far, they were having absolute zero luck with the door-to-door approach, and Mrs. Tsukino had made it perfectly clear that one way or another, the cat would be gone by tomorrow morning.  
  
"I'm tired, Serena. Can't we stop and rest for a minute?" the little boy pleaded. She consented, and they sat down on the curb, Luna's box beside them. Reaching in for the umpteenth time, Sammy pulled her out and cuddled her on his lap. Her black fur was hot from absorbed summer sun, but the boy didn't seem to mind the heat. Serena sighed and reached out to rub the little crescent moon on the cat's forehead, causing the perpetual purr to rise in volume. She loved cats, and it distressed her to see such a nice one wasted like this. Suddenly, Sammy looked at her, as if reading her mind.  
  
"Oh, please, Serena, can't we keep her?" he pleaded softly.  
  
"You know your mother said we couldn't."  
  
"Well…" the boy chewed his lip, as though he knew she wouldn't like what he was about to say. "Well, she wouldn't have to know. We could keep her in your room, you know she said she would respect your privacy and not go in there, and we could sneak in food for her, and then we could have her to play with all the time, and she wouldn't destroy any of the furniture, she's a good kitty, really!" he got out in a rush, clutching the cat to his chest. She squeaked in protest, and he loosened his grip, but didn't lessen the intensity of his begging eyes on Serena.  
  
She battled with herself, wanting to give in, but also wanting to uphold his mother's wishes. Luna chose this critical moment to let out a soft, crystalline meow and bump her head on Serena's arm.  
  
"See, she wants to stay with us, too!" Sammy pleaded.  
  
Serena looked into his wide green eyes, then at the serene blue ones of the cat, and knew that she was lost.  
  
Luna thereafter became a resident of the Tsukino home, if only beknownst to two other members of the family.  
  
~----------~  
  
  
  
Serena crept silently around the corner, into the dark room. She held up her wishstone, and a pale, silver light was cast from it as she cautiously advanced on the dark form before her. A little voice sang softly in her head, over and over, "When you need me, I will come. When you need me, I will come." The dark form whirled suddenly, and a pain like none that she had ever experienced shot through her whole body. She screamed, and fell, and was caught in a pair of strong arms. Looking up into the handsome face of a man with raven black hair and deep midnight blue eyes, she was struck with an odd sense of familiarity, though she was sure she had never seen him before. He grinned rakishly at her, causing her stomach to flip, and then, abruptly, he frowned. "You should've known," he said, before disappearing. The support of his arms gone, Serena fell and fell in black nothingness…  
  
Sitting up with a start and stifling the shriek rising in her throat, Serena fought to regain control of her heavy breathing and racing heart. For a few confused seconds, she had no idea where she was, until she finally realized that she was in her own bed, at the Tsukino's house. She pressed a trembling hand to her sweaty forehead, then pushed it back into her loose, wavy, blond hair. She glanced at the clock. 1:42am. Luna stirred and rose from her place at the foot of the pink bedspread, nestling herself back down against Serena's side. She lay back down again and ran a hand lightly over the cat's back. That dream again… Pushing the image of the startlingly handsome face of the man with midnight blue eyes out of her mind, she concentrated on the rhythmic vibration of Luna's purring through the covers until she drifted back into an uneasy sleep.  
  
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AN: wonder who that is? ^_~ 


	5. Ch. 4: The Shattering

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Do I dare disturb the universe?  
  
In a minute there is time for decisions and revisions  
  
which in a minute will reverse.  
  
--T. S. Eliot  
  
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Chapter Four: The Shattering  
  
*beep*…*beep*…*beep*…  
  
Groaning, Serena slammed her hand down on the clock to shut it up. Groggily, she pushed herself out of bed and into the bathroom. When she emerged, Luna was waiting at the door to the hall for her. The cat announced her pleasure at Serena's awakening by rubbing against her legs, almost tripping her as she tried to open the door. The girl scooped up the cat and carried her downstairs, grumbling softly about "…more trouble than she's worth, really."  
  
It was 5:00am, and Serena had to drag herself out of bed to smuggle the stupid cat outside so she could use the bathroom.  
  
Yawning, she passed through the living room on her way to the sliding glass doors out back. Luna's favorite "potty spot" (as Sammy called it) was in the woods behind the house, and she refused to go if carried out any other doors.  
  
"Really, Luna, you're so picky," she muttered, as if she were annoyed, but belied the emotion with an affectionate rub of the cat's head.  
  
"Is that you, Serena, dear?"  
  
Serena froze at the sudden, unexpected sound of Mrs. Tsukino's voice, every nerve in her body taunt with horror.  
  
"Did you hear that bird calling, too? I couldn't get back to sleep so I figured I might as well…" Irene continued, coming out of the kitchen with a dishtowel draped over her hands. Her voice trailed off and her face hardened upon sight of Serena, holding the forbidden cat.  
  
Oh, shit. Here it comes, Serena thought in dismay.  
  
The woman's voice was dangerously soft. "What, exactly, do you think you are doing?"  
  
"Uh…" Serena searched desperately for some kind of excuse, but was cut short before she could think of anything to save herself.  
  
"Didn't I tell you that I DO NOT WANT THAT THING IN MY HOUSE? Didn't I?" Her voice began to rise in pitch and volume. "I will not stand for this! I will not have an unholy little monster tearing around my house at all hours and destroying my valuables! This is my house, and I took you into it! This is the thanks you give me? Bringing in that…that…*animal*, directly defying…" Irene stopped suddenly in the middle of her tirade and went very pale as her eyes focused over Serena's shoulder. "Oh my God…Sammy?" she whispered, bringing a hand to her mouth. Serena frowned and turned quickly.  
  
Sammy was leaning against the living room doorway, holding a hand to his mouth. Blood trickled down the front of his Dragon Ball Z pajamas as he coughed weakly.  
  
"Mommy," he gasped, "I'm bleeding…and it hurts…"  
  
~----------~  
  
"It's called disseminated intravascular coagulation, or DIC, perhaps better known by the name of consumption coagulopathy. It could have been caused by any number of factors. Any small cuts that your son has received are unable to clot, causing severe bleeding as a result of platelets circulating throughout the body instead of being localized to an area of injury. Our best hope is replacement therapy…"  
  
The doctor's voice started to become fuzzy in Serena's ears as he continued with medical definitions and calm explanations for Mrs. Tsukino's frightened questions. Mr. Tsukino had rushed home from work when the hospital called him, and now sat looking pale and holding his wife's hand. Both seemed to have forgotten Serena's presence alongside them in the waiting room.  
  
Serena stared down at her hands, twisted into the thick fabric of the grey sweatshirt she had thrown on over her pajamas. There were splatters of Sammy's blood on it from where he had sat on her lap in the car while Irene rushed him to the emergency room. She blinked away tears and struggled to comprehend the events of the past hour. It had all been so sudden; one minute, she was in trouble with her foster mother over a cat, the next, she was cradling a frightened and bloody Sammy as his mother sped through traffic lights to the hospital.  
  
Now she was sitting in an uncomfortable chair, surrounded by all kinds of horrible chemical smells and human misery, listening to a doctor calmly explain that it was too early to tell whether or not Sammy would pull through.  
  
"But how could this have happened?" Irene's pleading voice cut into the doctor's serene drone. "Why did this happen to my baby? I thought people didn't get consumption anymore!"  
  
Serena tuned out the assurances of the rarity of the disease and the list of possible causes. It seemed to her that all they were doing was wasting time, precious time that could be spent with Sammy. What did it matter *how* it had happened? It had. What mattered now was what to do about it.  
  
"Excuse me," she cut in abruptly, aware that she was interrupting but suddenly needing to know, "Can I…is it possible for us to see Sammy?"  
  
The doctor gave her a sharp look at being cut off, which immediately softened at the look of anguish on the young woman's face. "I'm sorry," he said, as gently as possible, "It will be impossible for him to have visitors for quite some time now. You will be notified when his condition has stabilized enough to allow you to see him."  
  
The doctor was retained for several more minutes by Mrs. Tsukino's questions. When he finally insisted that he could give her no more information and got up to leave, he couldn't help casting a sympathetic look back over his shoulder at the pretty young blonde in the blood- splattered sweatshirt, who was pacing back and forth across the small space.  
  
~----------~  
  
Three short naps in the waiting room chair, five miles of pacing, and one uneaten hospital cafeteria meal later, Serena was finally at Sammy's bedside. She was alone, as his mother had become hysterical at the sight of her son's frail body wrapped in bloody bandages and hooked up to various tubes feeding to bleeping machines. Mr. Tsukino had led his wife back out to the waiting room, leaving their foster daughter alone with their son.  
  
The tears that she had been fighting since their first arrival now flowed unchecked down her cheeks as she laid her hand lightly on his tiny fingers, slightly blue from something the doctor had called thrombosis formation. He showed no sign of feeling her touch.  
  
Serena's tears began to flow more quickly. How could this have happened? Just a few days ago, she had been so happy, content at last with a family. And now… Sammy was just a little boy. He didn't deserve this. Nobody deserved this. Especially not her sweet little foster brother who just yesterday had been running happily through the backyard and whispering conspiratorially with her about their secret cat.  
  
It wasn't fair. What had he ever done to deserve such punishment? What had she ever done to deserve losing him?  
  
Instinctively, she reached inside her shirt for her locket. She clenched it in her fist as she fought desperately against sobs. Oh please, she prayed, harder than she had ever prayed for anything before. Please, just don't let him die. Don't let him suffer any more. Heat welled in her chest and she clenched even harder on the locket. Just let him be okay. Let Sammy be okay!  
  
The heat rose further in her chest, becoming an almost unbearable ache. Desperation gripped her as she realized what was about to happen, but her fervent wish for Sammy overwhelmed the feeling of fear. Sudden light exploded through the room, blinding her with silver and white. Roaring filled her ears. Sammy!, her mind screamed, just before it was silenced by a forceful impact with the white hospital wall.  
  
When she finally managed to get her vision to clear, she found herself slumped in the corner of the small white room. The room looked as though it had been blasted apart, with bits of machinery and puddles of chemicals scattered about the floor. Sammy was sitting up in bed, bandages gone and completely unharmed. He looked at Serena with wide, disbelieving eyes.  
  
"Sere…Serena?" he whispered. As if on cue, the door burst open, and white and green-clad bodies rushed in. The room immediately became a whirlwind of argument and frenzied questions. Sammy was overtaken by five different doctors wanting to test him at once.  
  
Serena felt cold panic overtake her. They would be angry… they always were, when these things happened. She wouldn't be able to explain, and the expensive equipment was ruined… She forced herself to her feet and got herself out of the room as quickly as possible.  
  
At the first "Hey!" behind her, she broke into a run, and didn't stop running until she was long gone from the little white room and the chemical smells floating in hallways.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
AN: I cite www.yahoo.com/health for all my info on disseminated intravascular coagulation, which is a real, very very rare disease with about a 1 in 10,000 occurrence rate. I realize that makes it nearly impossible for Sammy to have gotten it, but it is POSSIBLE….ah, just go with it. It won't hurt, I promise….well, not much, anyway. ^_~ 


	6. Ch. 5: The Girl in the Rain

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Her eyes like windows, trickling rain--  
  
Upon her pain, getting deeper.  
  
--Cat Stephens, "Sad Lisa"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chapter Five: The Girl in the Rain  
  
Afterward, Serena never could understand how she got home. All she remembered was being outside the hospital, desperately wishing for a way to get away, and then suddenly being in her own room again.  
  
Luna was pacing the length of her bedroom, and greeted Serena with a worried meow. The cat was very confused when this caused her owner to break down into wracking sobs and slide to the floor. She bumped her head against Serena's clenched fist in concern, but the sobs only increased in volume and intensity.  
  
Serena's life lay, once again, in shambles around her feet. All she had wanted was for it to work this time, for her to finally have a stable family. And now, yet another home was lost to her because of the strangeness that she could neither explain nor control. As soon as the Tsukinos returned, she would once again find herself in the social worker's office, being shipped off to another house, another opportunity to have her heart broken. She was seventeen, for God's sake! When was enough, enough?  
  
Suddenly, her head came up from her arms, and she met the worried, blue- eyed gaze of her cat. That's right. She was seventeen. Almost eighteen. Hadn't she just been thinking the other night that she could probably take care of herself, if only she weren't still a legal minor? Her overtaxed emotions immediately latched on to this thought, and began spinning a wild plan from it.  
  
"Luna," she whispered feverishly, "we should get out of here. You and me. We don't need anyone else, and they sure as hell don't need us…" Serena jumped up and retrieved her shabby traveling bag from its forgotten corner in the closet. "I can't go back again, not again. It's just been too many times, that's all. I can't take it again," she continued to distractedly explain to the cat as she threw random possessions and articles of clothing into the bag. Luna regarded her with a troubled expression.  
  
Serena quickly glanced around the room to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything, then lifted Luna into the leftover space in the bag. The cat let out a small mew of disapproval.  
  
"Don't worry, everything will be all right. I promise," Serena assured her, ignoring for the moment the fact that all apparent evidence pointed to the contrary.  
  
~----------~  
  
It didn't start getting really bad until the rain set in. Before that, Serena had only been tired and hungry and sad, but when the rain added cold and soaked-through to the list of her afflictions, she had to admit that the sum total was utter wretchedness. Luna's muffled complaints told her that the threadbare bag was not doing a very good job of keeping the cat dry.  
  
Why didn't I think to bring an umbrella? she thought miserably. But, then again, why didn't I think to bring some money or some food? And, while I'm at it, why did I run away in the first place instead of just facing another home? At least I would be warm and dry and fed there…  
  
Serena berated herself constantly, until it became a mantra with every step. Why didn't I? Why didn't I? She stumbled, and caught herself just in time to prevent falling headlong into a curbside puddle. A car swerved to avoid hitting her, its horn blaring in her ears. She noticed vaguely that she was in the city now and should stay away from the streets. A half- formed idea about evading possible pursuers occurred to her, and she turned down a side street. The mantra shortened itself as she stumbled yet again. Why? Why? Why?  
  
She kept going, not really sure where or why anymore. Her mind was fogged with fatigue and raw emotions, and it was hard to focus on any one thing for more than a few seconds. Finally, her legs gave out under her, and she collapsed to the pavement. She managed to drag herself and the bag under a set of stairs with the vague idea of hiding, and was faintly surprised to find the majority of falling water held off by the metal overhead.  
  
Feeling grateful for this relative dryness, she immediately succumbed to the darkness hovering at the fringes of her brain, blocking out the acute pain in her empty stomach and the desperate cries of her distressed cat.  
  
~----------~  
  
Darien Chiba sighed in annoyance when he stepped outside to find it raining. It figured that the first rain in months would come on the one day he had decided to walk to work. He forked over fifteen bucks to a grinning vender in front of the building for an umbrella, cursing at the rip-off, but knowing it was that or catch pneumonia walking the six blocks to his apartment in the rain.  
  
Darien had only just turned twenty-one years old, but he considered himself to be unusually mature for his age. Fresh out of college, he had already managed to land himself a job in a big corporation and a nice apartment not far from where he worked. He was no stranger to the business world, as he had worked constantly since the age of eighteen to help put himself through school and keep a roof over his head. He had built an impressive résumé, and after four years of smooth self-sufficiency, he had acquired a certain amount of what he liked to think of as confidence, though others might say something more like 'arrogancy' or 'stubborn-ness'.  
  
Holding his umbrella and briefcase in one hand, he reached into his pocket for his keys as he approached the metal stairs leading to his apartment building. He was distracted from selecting the correct key from the ring he carried, however, by a thin, high sound, rather like a cat in distress.  
  
He almost shook it off and continued inside out of the rain, but his better nature got the best of him, and he went back down the stairs to locate the source of the sound. Looking around, he didn't see anything.  
  
Feeling foolish, he called out, "Here, kitty, kitty."  
  
A desperately hopeful yowl answered his voice. Darien frowned. It almost sounded like the cat was right beside him. But upon turning to his left to look under the stairs, all he saw was someone's ratty old traveling bag and a girl stretched out on the pavement.  
  
A girl stretched out on the pavement!  
  
Darien gasped and bent down to her, quickly setting his briefcase down beside the bag. Her blond hair was coming lose from its ties and was plastered against her skin, as were her clothes. He almost didn't breathe himself until he detected the small rise of her chest that indicated her lungs were still working. She was alive, at least, if half-drowned. He marveled at the print of blue stars across the yellow background of her short cotton shorts beneath the gray sweatshirt she wore. They almost looked like pajamas. He panicked briefly at the sight of blood on her sweatshirt, but it was long-dried and there was no evidence of any open wounds. He reached out carefully and gently turned her head toward him with one hand, holding the umbrella with his other. His breath caught in his throat. She was beautiful. Her hair was pressed flat and straggly against her face, her skin pale and her nose red from cold, and yet, she was beautiful, the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. His fingers lingered against her rain-wet, silky cheek.  
  
A very annoyed yowl expressed displeasure at his distraction, and the bag next to the girl shook. Darien looked at in surprise, then opened it to find a pair of blue eyes peeping out at him. The cat he had heard was in the bag. Her bag, he supposed, and, therefore, her cat. The cat's black head peeped up over the edge of fabric, took in the sheets of water pouring just beyond the edge of the stairs, and decided that maybe the bag was not such a bad place to be, after all. Darien looked back to the girl's closed lashes, dotted with clinging raindrops, and debated with himself. He could not hold the umbrella, the bag, his briefcase, and her all at the same time…  
  
He closed the umbrella and set it down under the stairs, then gently slid his arms under the girl's prone body, lifting her against his chest. Her head rolled to rest against his shoulder. The rain was a shock of cold and wet on his skin when he straightened, but somehow, her body felt warm through the layers of clothing that separated them. Grabbing the bag with the cat, he started up the stairs, wondering what had come over practical Mr. Chiba to make him abandon a fifteen-dollar umbrella and a genuine leather briefcase full of important papers in favor of a wet, bedraggled, unknown girl and her cat.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
AN: Yay, Darien finally makes the scene! And here is where it stops, for now… there is more, lots more, but I'll only put it up if people want me to. So, if you like this so far and want to know what happens next, PLEASE WRITE A REVIEW OR EMAIL ME AND TELL ME THAT YOU WANT MORE!!!!!!!!! email: ryo-chan@mindspring.com ^_^ bye for now…hopefully only for a little while…..*waves with starry hopeful eyes* 


	7. Ch. 6: A Strange Man's Apartment

AN: Yay, people like *^_^*…okay, for the four wonderful people who have so far shown support for this fic, the show goes on!!!!!!!!  
  
Muchos gracias to mOOnPrINCess, BRITTANIA, Electric Pegasus, and Diana for their reviews. ^_^  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Home is the place where, when you have to go there,  
  
They have to take you in.  
  
--Robert Frost, "The Death of the Hired Man"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Chapter Six: A Strange Man's Apartment  
  
Serena held her wishstone high above her head, casting a circle of silver light around herself. A voice sung in her head, and she crept cautiously forward in the darkness, wary of the way it swirled to form a shape. Suddenly, it whirled, and unbearable pain coursed through her. She screamed and screamed, falling to her knees. Luna was crying, and a man with black hair and deep blue eyes was shaking her and screaming, "You should have known! You should have known!" She cried and cried for him to stop, and suddenly he enfolded her in his arms. Remembering what had happened the last time he had held her and disappeared, she screamed again in anticipation of the fall into black nothingness…  
  
Serena woke with a start, to find herself wrapped tightly in a pair of strong arms, her cheek resting on warm, bare skin between a man's neck and shoulder.  
  
"Shhh, it's okay. It was just a nightmare. Just a bad dream. You're all right now," a gentle voice soothed her. She felt his hand stroking over her hair, and allowed herself to relax into the embrace and be comforted. She felt warm and safe.  
  
He felt her heartbeat slow back to normal, but didn't let go. He cradled her against him, rocking her gently and continuing a steady stream of soothing words. Not until every muscle in her body was relaxed, and her breathing smooth and even, did he gently lay her back on the bed. It was then that she realized that she didn't know where she was, or who he was.  
  
"Where…" she began, feeling a tiny spurt of fear, but was stopped with his finger against her lips.  
  
"Shhh, not now. In the morning. Just go back to sleep," the soft voice said soothingly, and his fingers stroked softly over her cheek. She watched as his shadowy form rose from her bed and crossed the room. He paused in the doorway to look back at her, and a ray of muted light fell across his face. Serena nearly gasped in surprise.  
  
He was startlingly handsome, with raven black hair that fell in sleep- mussed strands across his eyes. Midnight blue eyes. Eyes from a dream…  
  
He was gone before she could call him back, and exhaustion proved stronger than curiosity. She was soon back inside a dreamless sleep.  
  
~----------~  
  
She woke to a familiar sense of wondering where she was. Serena had lived in a lot of different homes, and had eventually gotten used to the initial sense of disorientation. However, after a few moments of lying there, still not knowing where she was, she started to feel a little panicked.  
  
Sitting up, she took in her surroundings. She was in a twin-sized bed with white cotton sheets. The room was painted in pale blue, the sparse furnishings plain, unembellished wood. Looking down, she discovered herself to be wearing a pair of plaid men's boxer shorts and a too-big white cotton t-shirt. She lifted a handful of the fabric to her nose and inhaled a manly scent, very unlike anything that had ever touched her skin before. Luna rose from the foot of the bed and walked daintily over the blue bedspread to bump her head against Serena's hand. She petted the cat absently, going over all the recent events she could recall, trying to figure out where the heck she was.  
  
She couldn't remember much after the hospital room. She knew that she had been back to the Tsukinos' house, and that she had decided to run away, taking Luna with her, but besides that, everything was rather muddled, something about rain and stairs. The only thing she recalled quite clearly was the face of a man who had shushed her when she awoke from a nightmare. A nightmare that had contained that face. But he had not been the source of fear in the dream, and she could remember very well the tender way he had comforted her. She blushed as the thought occurred to her that these must be his boxers she was wearing, and his shirt. The blush deepened as she wondered how she had got them on. Surely, he hadn't…  
  
A soft clanging came from elsewhere in the house, or wherever she was, and Luna sat up straight with her ears perked, then jumped off the bed and to the closed door. She looked back at Serena and plaintively asked for the door to be opened. Serena slowly slid her body through the unfamiliar feel of the sheets and let her bare feet touch the cold of the hardwood floor. She winced and thought in annoyance, Geez, hasn't the guy ever heard of rugs? There was a pair of brown slippers lined up neatly with the edge of the bed, and she paused a moment before slipping them on. They were too big for her small feet, and she felt faintly guilty for using someone else's slippers without asking, but they provided relief from the cold floor. She shuffled over to the door and opened it, letting the cat trot happily down the hallway. She herself paused hesitantly in the doorway.  
  
A quick glance back inside the room showed no signs of her bag anywhere, and therefore no hope of anything else to wear. He was sure to be outside that door somewhere, and God only knew who else lived here. Could she really go out and face the unknown wearing a pair of boxers and a man's cotton shirt? Just then, a waft of coffee smell came across her nose, immediately tipping the scales in favor of going out and not caring what she looked like.  
  
All the same, it was with a tentative step that she rounded the corner to the main room of what she had discerned to be an apartment, judging from its small size. Here, a large off-white rug with a zigzag pattern of green stripes covered the middle of the floor. A few easy chairs and a big green couch surrounded a wooden coffee table, centered on the rug. There was an opening off to one side onto a table, the dining area, she supposed. A doorway, minus a door, led to a small kitchen. But Serena's eye had little time to take in the layout before it was drawn to the figure sprawled lazily across the couch, half-hidden behind sections of newspaper and a certain, familiar black cat, who was purring on his stomach.  
  
Deep blue eyes met her own aquamarine, and the man took in her hesitant form, noting with interest the transformation of his undershirt and boxers on her feminine shape.  
  
"G'morning," he said casually, going back to reading the newspaper, as though he had greeted her thus every morning of their lives. Serena stared. He looked up again, took in her confusion, and then grinned and raised his steaming mug.  
  
"Coffee's in the kitchen," he informed her, as though of course that was the reason she was staring. He resumed his perusal of the paper, leaving Serena with no other course of action than to go in the kitchen.  
  
She returned after a hunt through cabinets for a mug, milk, and sugar, no easy task, and uneasily settled herself with her coffee in an armchair across from him. She didn't know what to make of his casual attitude. He did not act at all as she would expect someone would act toward a strange girl who had spent the night in his bed. For there was a lumpy pillow on one side of the couch and a crumpled blanket on the other, and it was obvious that this was where he had spent the night, giving up his bed for her.  
  
After a prolonged silence, filled only with the rustle of paper and Luna's traitorous purring, he asked, with a teasing smile, "Do you want to see the comics?"  
  
Serena decided immediately that she could not play along any longer.  
  
"No, I don't want to see the comics. I would like for you to stop reading the paper and answer some questions for me," she said, trying to make her voice sound firm and authoritative.  
  
He gave her a look that quite clearly communicated his amusement, but set his paper down, nonetheless. She cleared her throat, feeling more than a little foolish with his expectant gaze on her.  
  
"Well, uh," she began, trying to think of the best thing to ask first. "Well, who…what is your name?"  
  
The man folded his hands in his lap and sat up straight, mocking her serious tone. "Darien Chiba, ma'am."  
  
She refused to let herself be flustered by his teasing. "All right, Darien, and how, exactly, did I get to…uh…wherever we are?"  
  
He gave her a funny look, and abruptly dropped his mocking posture, letting his voice become easy again. "Well, actually, I don't really know. I found you outside, under the stairs with Luna in a bag. You were soaking wet and unconscious, so I brought you in and dried you off as best I could. You were half-starved and half-drowned to death, and Luna wasn't that much better off. I would have called 911 if you hadn't started to come around, but when you did, you seemed pretty adamant about no people. This is my apartment, by the way."  
  
"How did you know her name?" Serena asked, puzzled at his accurate reference to her cat, who was still purring on Darien's lap. Serena sent her a murderous look for the betrayal.  
  
"You told me," he said simply. "Actually, you told me a lot of things, but most of them didn't make a lot of sense. I managed to gather that your cat is Luna, that you were very hungry, that you could dry and dress yourself, thank you very much, and that you didn't want any people to come see you." He cracked a grin at her red face, and added, "Didn't manage to get your name, though."  
  
She recovered herself enough to say, "Serena…Hino. Serena Hino," pulling a last name out of thin air. You couldn't be too careful, and if they really were looking for her…  
  
"Nice to meet you, Miss Hino," he said, cracking another grin. She found herself admiring the beauty of his easy smile, but he continued before she could wonder at the attraction. "Now, if that's all your questions, I'd like to finish the paper…" he started to reach toward the coffee table, where he had set the newspaper down. Serena's eye fell briefly on it, and she barely managed to stifle a horrified gasp. Peeking out below the section he had just been reading was her own face, grinning in her senior year school photo in black and white, her real name printed below in neat typing.  
  
"Wait!" she cried. If he saw that… It was probably a story on the 'miracle' at the hospital and her abrupt disappearance. If Darien saw her picture in the paper, he would call the police! Desperation was apparent in her cry, and Darien looked up at her in puzzlement.  
  
She quickly tried to cover, dropping back into what she hoped was a normal voice. "Uh… I still have some questions. Er… where is my bag? I had a bag with me, with all my things in it."  
  
Darien sat back once more, and she breathed a silent sigh of relief. If she could just keep him talking…  
  
"Oh, well, it… kinda had some holes in it, and most of the stuff was soaked, so I hung it up to dry in the TV room. That's how come I lent you that stuff to sleep in, because all yours was wet. By the way…" As if he was reminded by something amusing, a slow smile spread across his face. "What you were wearing when I found you… Were those your pajamas? They sure looked an awful lot like they might be."  
  
Serena was suddenly mortified to remember that she had never had a chance to change out of her PJs yesterday, between Sammy, the hospital, and her irrational dash from the Tsukino house. She felt her face burning as she thought of how she must have looked upon his first sight of her. Soaking wet with pajama shorts and an old gray sweatshirt on. She must have been hideous. "Yeah, those were my pajamas," she said defensively, sternly reprimanding herself for caring whether she had looked good when he saw her.  
  
His smile faded when he remembered something else. "And do you want to tell me why you were lying unconscious on the cement, half-dead of exposure, wearing pajamas and a sweatshirt splattered with blood?" he asked, very low.  
  
She shivered at the intensity in his eyes and searched desperately for a way to worm out of answering. If she tried to explain, he'd probably just turn her in… Her darting gaze fell on the clock on his wall across from her.  
  
"Don't you have a job?" she asked quickly. "It's 9:00."  
  
The intensity evaporated immediately, replaced with panic. "9:00?!! Shit, I'm late!" He dumped Luna unceremoniously off his lap and raced down the hall to his bedroom, muttering more curses. He was out again in less than five seconds, hopping up and down as he tried to pull on one shoe and his jacket at the same time. Serena jumped up and settled his jacket on his broad shoulders for him while he put on the shoe, then opened the door for him. He hurriedly grabbed the briefcase that was sitting beside it, then abruptly turned back to her in the open doorway with a stern expression.  
  
"Stay here," he commanded, with an upraised finger. She suppressed an insane giggle at his totalitarian demeanor and saluted him, military style.  
  
"Yes, sir!" she asserted smartly, before closing the door on his harried expression.  
  
She slowly turned around, rested her back against the door, and heaved a big sigh of relief. That was close.  
  
When she had recovered herself, she went back over to the couch and picked up the paper on Darien's coffee table. Sitting down in the warm spot where he had just been, she smoothed a ruffled Luna and flipped to the page that she had seen earlier. There was a large color photo of the hospital room that Sammy had occupied, looking as it had when Serena left it: covered with broken machinery parts and spilled chemicals. A very bewildered- looking Sammy was standing next to the bed, and lots of doctors in green scrubs stood around the boy. There was a small picture of Serena herself, the school photo taken of her last year, next to the big one of the hospital. Her heart sank at the headline: "Boy claims Miracle Girl saved him, then disappeared."  
  
A quick scan of the article confirmed her worst fears. She hesitated only briefly before going resolutely into the kitchen. There, she turned on the faucet and soaked the entire paper, watching as ink ran and blended across the sheets until her face was obscured by watery hues. She then switched on the garbage disposal and proceeded to stuff little bits of wet paper down it, praying all the while that it wasn't too late, that Darien had not yet read this section of the newspaper.  
  
When she was sure that every last scrap of evidence was utterly destroyed, she washed the ink off her hands and went back out to the living room. She stood in the middle of the room, suddenly at a loss.  
  
"What am I supposed to do now, Luna?" she asked out loud, more to herself than the cat. "I should probably just leave, that would be the best thing. I can't hide who I am from him forever, and as soon as he finds out, he'll turn me in." That seemed sensible, but she made no move for the door. Instead, she sat back down on the couch and gently stroked her cat. Luna purred and closed her eyes in contentment.  
  
Serena let her hand fall to the pillow beside her, thinking of the man who had slept on it last night, so that she could have his bed. Without knowing why, she lifted it and held it against her chest, burying her face in its soft folds and inhaling deeply. The scent clinging to the fabric was warm and musky, definitively male. So familiar somehow, and strangely comforting. It filled her with a need to stay here, to stay close to him. She didn't understand it, but the feeling was so powerful that she didn't question. When she finally lifted her head from his pillow, Luna was watching her with wide blue eyes. Serena laughed at what she knew must be strange behavior on her part and rubbed the little crescent moon on Luna's forehead to reassure the cat.  
  
"Oh, well, I suppose we'll stay, at least for a little while. I don't really have anywhere else to go." She scooped the cat up and carried her down the hall, feeling the rumbling vibration of purring against her chest.  
  
Brief exploration revealed the TV room to be behind one of the doors at the end of the short and narrow hallway. She flushed at the sight of her clothes and under-things draped over string that was tied across the room. Her bras and panties were there, which meant that Darien had touched them when he hung them to dry… She quickly shifted her gaze to take in the rest of the room with burning cheeks.  
  
It was fairly small, the only furnishings consisting of a hideous beige sofa and a square wooden table that supported a television and VCR. A couple of videos were stacked messily under the table, and two remotes rested haphazardly on the corner of the television. An empty pizza box took up half the couch. Yeah, this is definitely a guy's apartment.  
  
Her clothes were still a little damp, so Serena settled herself on the couch and turned on the TV, almost glad to have an excuse not to change out of Darien's boxers and undershirt. Luna daintily arranged herself against Serena's side and closed her eyes with a small sigh. "In the name of the moon, I will punish you!" a cartoon blared on the screen, and Serena turned back the volume while a girl in a short skirt disposed of a silly-looking monster. She kicked the pizza box off the end of the sofa and stretched out full-length. A picture hung on the wall in her line of vision. Darien, looking, as always, handsome, and holding a little girl with sky blue eyes and loose, blond hair.  
  
Feeling an unexplainable sense of security and peace, Serena let her mind go blissfully blank.  
  
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AN: see top ^_^ 


	8. Ch. 7: Parallels

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I wanna see you dancing naked  
  
I wanna see you touch the moon…  
  
I wanna feel you with my senses  
  
'Cause I'm almost sure the texture of your skin  
  
Is gonna tell me who you are  
  
--Jonas Berggren, "My Déjà vu"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chapter Seven: Parallels  
  
"See that it doesn't happen again, Chiba."  
  
"Yes, sir," Darien said, relieved that a stern reprimand was all he had received upon his hour-late arrival at his office building. Luckily, he hadn't been so much as five minutes late until today, so his boss let him off easy. Still, he got himself out of his superior's sight as quickly as possible, before the man could change his mind.  
  
He hurried to his cubicle, cursing a particular beautiful blonde as he thought of how hard he would have to work to make up for the time lost. He was already behind, not having looked at any of the papers that he had meant to review last night, and it didn't help to have a late start today. He cursed again, causing a passing board member to glare at him in disapproval. It was all her fault. If she wasn't so beautiful and intriguing and sexy…his train of thought came to an abrupt, screeching halt. Now, hold on a minute, Chiba, what are you thinking? She's probably no older than seventeen, not at all your type. She's a little girl; you're a man.  
  
He threw his briefcase down on his desk, and surveyed with a sad eye the water damage it had incurred before he opened it. See, she's nothing but trouble. She made you ruin your nice leather briefcase, was rude to you when she woke up, and made you late for work. Not to mention that you had to sleep on the couch because she was in your bed. Darien's firm rebuking of himself was interrupted suddenly by a compelling vision of Serena spread across the covers of his bed, cotton sheets long used to rough maleness beneath their fabric laying on silky, feminine skin, shining hair flowing in golden waves over pillows, long lashes resting on smooth cheek in slumber… He shook his head, hard, attracting a curious look from a runner who had stopped by with a message. He had to focus, damn it!  
  
Work. Now, he told himself. He managed to fully concentrate on the pressing matter of an important client's demands for ten whole seconds before the words "water-proof sealing" called an image of raindrops clinging to blond lashes into his mind. He cursed and immediately pushed the vision away. No. I will not think of her. I will think only of work. Work, not Serena. Serena…such a beautiful name. It sounded like the name of an ancient goddess…NO! No Serena. Only work!  
  
At last, he gave up and went to the men's room to stick his head under the faucet. When he returned, the cold water dripping from his hair down the back of his shirt made it slightly easier to concentrate for more than thirty seconds at a time.  
  
~----------~  
  
"Yo, Chiba! It's 1:00, you wanna go for lunch?"  
  
Darien looked up from his frantic rush to complete the mountain of paperwork that he should have started last night. Andrew Swarth, one of his good friends, was slouching easily against the thin wall of the cubicle, taking in Darien's harried appearance with no attempt to disguise his amusement.  
  
"Uh, I dunno, Andrew, I don't think I can…I'm completely swamped…"  
  
"Aw, come on Chiba, it's just lunch. It can't set you back *that* much." Darien wasn't fooled. The way Andrew and the guys ate lunch, it could set him back an hour or more. His friend recognized his doubtful expression and grinned.  
  
"All work and no play makes Darien a dull boy. And a dull boy gets no women," he coaxed, a long-standing joke between them.  
  
Darien laughed. "Oh, all right, but *you're* the one who's going to explain to the boss-man why all my work isn't done if we aren't back in half an hour, Swarth." He grabbed his jacket, slinging it over his shoulder as he followed Andrew and the two other guys they usually hung out with to his car.  
  
He pulled up in front of the café/bar they always ate in, admiring the reflection of his expensive sports car in the glass windows. It had cost him nearly all the money he had, but it was worth it. He gave it an affectionate pat as he got out with the other guys. She was his baby.  
  
The four men sat down at their usual table. They didn't need to pick up the plastic-coated menus; they had been there often enough to be known by all the waitresses and to need no more complicated an order than, "The usual for all of us."  
  
"Hey, Darien," the waitress said, rolling a lock of her auburn hair around a slender finger as she looked him up and down. "You're looking good, as always."  
  
"Beryl," he said by way of greeting, nodding acknowledgement of her presence, then turning away from her. He had dated her briefly, after meeting at a horrendous party, and had slept with her once. He had broken it off after a couple of weeks of being smothered, but she still seemed to feel that she had some kind of claim on him. It annoyed him that she wouldn't leave him alone, not to mention that her threatening all the women who tried to get close to him didn't exactly do wonders for his love life. A brief image of Serena's aquamarine eyes flashed before him, and he pushed it away immediately.  
  
Beryl brought them their food, and Darien ignored the way she leaned further than necessary to set down his plate, displaying maximum cleavage in his face. She left, swaying her hips and casting a sultry glance over her shoulder that Darien pretended not to see.  
  
Andrew reached over and punched Darien on the arm. "She's still got the hots for you, Chiba! Oh, man, you get all the really hot chicks…"  
  
"Shut up, Swarth. I don't want her, didn't I tell you that woman was Queen Obsessive Relationship?"  
  
Melvin, one of the other two men at the table, groaned through his mouthful of hamburger. "If you don' wan' 'er, can I 'aff 'er? That iff one sexay mama," he said with his mouth full.  
  
"Yeah, I'm sure you'll have no problem picking her up, Melv. You can wow her with your flawless table manners." All four laughed.  
  
The male banter continued for a while, Darien only half-listening and checking his watch every other minute. He couldn't follow the conversation, keep track of time, and concentrate on not thinking about Serena, all at the same time. He found that his mind just kept drifting back to her, no matter what he did.  
  
"Yo! Chiba! Are you in there?" Andrew rapped his friend on the forehead with his knuckles. "What's the matter with you, man? The last time I saw you like this, you were tripping on some girl…" His face brightened and he punched Darien on the shoulder. "Who is she this time?"  
  
Darien looked up, startled. "No one. I was just… uh, thinking about all the work you guys are keeping me from."  
  
"Now what have I told you about work, buddy? All work and no play…"  
  
"…makes Darien a dull boy, and a dull boy gets no women," all four men chorused together.  
  
Andrew looked slightly put out, and immediately began arguing the evils of being a 'dull boy'. The other two joined in eagerly, egging him on. Darien tuned them out, not really in the mood for one of Andrew's long speeches. He let his gaze wander over to the small television mounted in the corner of the bar.  
  
". . .they're calling her 'Miracle Girl'. According to nine-year old Sammy Tsukino, this young woman, his foster sister, saved his life. Not more than twenty-four hours ago, the little boy was in grave danger for his life, struck with a rare disease called disseminated intravascular coagulation. That is, until Serena visited him. Using what he describes as a 'bright silver light', the seventeen year-old girl reportedly cured him completely of all symptoms, blasting his room apart in the process and destroying some medical equipment. She disappeared shortly afterward, last seen by hospital staff as she fled the building. Authorities are currently on the lookout for her, so if you have seen Serena, please call. . ."  
  
But Darien wasn't listening anymore, because a small picture had appeared beside the smiling news lady's face, and he could no longer breathe. The girl in the picture looked down on him from the screen with clear aquamarine eyes, her blond hair pulled into two buns and pigtails on either side of her face. He would know that face anywhere.  
  
Serena. *His* Serena.  
  
"…right, Darien? Darien? Hey, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost or something."  
  
He somehow managed to get his voice to work. "I…I have to go. Sorry," he said, rising quickly and throwing some money on the table.  
  
"Wait, Darien, we came in your car!"  
  
He paused, then threw the keys to Andrew. "Just put it in my parking space at the office. I'll walk."  
  
The other three men looked at each other behind his retreating back. "Man, something's really wrong with him," Andrew said in a worried tone. "He's never let anyone else *touch* his car before."  
  
~----------~  
  
Darien walked with furious energy, his restless mind pouring recklessness into his movements. He almost knocked several people down, but didn't notice, too caught up in his fevered thoughts.  
  
So that was who she was, why she had been lying under his stairs in the rain. She was wearing pajamas because she hadn't changed them before going to the hospital, or before running away. There were blood splatters on her sweatshirt because her foster brother had bled on her. She had run because the equipment was destroyed and she was afraid of what would happen to her. She had collapsed because she had been walking in the rain for so long, trying to escape what she had left behind. Everything made perfect sense. Except one thing.  
  
'They're calling her 'Miracle Girl'. . .this young woman, his foster- sister, saved his life. . using what he describes as a 'bright silver light'. . .'  
  
What had happened in that hospital room? Did he really believe that Serena had caused some sort of miracle? Her foster-brother, not her real brother. That meant that she had a foster family. Darien drew in a deep breath and sat down on a bench. No real family… strange things happening to her… just like him.  
  
He reached into the pocket of his pants and withdrew what he always carried with him. It was encased in a velvet pouch that could be worn around the neck, but he preferred to carry it in his pocket, instead. He loosened the drawstring closure and tipped it into his hand. Holding it up to the light, he looked at the reflected glory of the sun in the stone's surfaces.  
  
Could it be…  
  
  
  
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AN:………………………………… 


	9. Ch. 8: The Stones

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Chapter Eight: The Stones  
  
Darien paid for his distraction from what he was supposed to be doing (namely, work) by getting trapped under piles of undone paperwork in the office until fairly late at night. He was the last to leave the building, other than the custodians, and it was dark outside. He swung by a fast food place on his way home, starving and worried about Serena. He had told her to stay put, but who knew whether she really would or not? A horrible fear that she would be gone when he got back gripped his guts and made him drive faster than what was probably wise.  
  
He juggled the bags of fast food as he opened the door, praying that she would still be there. Slipping inside, he closed the door and latched it, set the food down on the dinner table, and called softly, "Serena?"  
  
There was no response.  
  
"Serena?!" he called again, more loudly, starting to panic. "Serena, are you here?"  
  
A quiet moan came from the general vicinity of the living room couch. Feeling immensely relieved, he hurried over, to discover Serena and Luna sleeping together on the sofa. She was still wearing his shirt and boxers, and the too-big t-shirt had worked it's way up her mid-drift as she slept, exposing the bare skin of her flat stomach and the sloping edge of one breast. Swallowing hard, Darien reached out and eased it down. She stirred a little and made a soft, sleepy sound in her throat. He felt something squeeze inside him, and despite himself, reached out to stroke her cheek.  
  
Her eyes opened slowly under his gentle touch and she blinked dreamily at him a few times, a serene little smile on her face. His breath caught. She looked like an angel.  
  
Then she sat up, her expression doing an instant one-eighty from angelic serenity to total bitch-mode.  
  
"Where have you been? Do you know what time it is? I thought you would be home hours ago! I was worried sick! You could have called, you know!" she ranted, sounding very annoyed but actually very relieved.  
  
Darien sat back on his heels with an amused expression. "Sorry, but seeing as how I was an hour late this morning and had done none of the work I was supposed to have finished last night, due to a certain blonde distraction who is sitting in front of me, I was forced to stay later than I usually do." He stood up and went to the dining room, calling over his shoulder, "You hungry? I stopped by Wendy's on my way home…"  
  
Serena was immediately by his side. "I'm starving! Did you know that there is absolutely no food in this place other than cereal?"  
  
Darien laughed and handed her a hamburger. "Well, I mostly eat take-out, since I'm not really one for culinary skills." He suddenly looked at Serena with an idea in his eyes. "Hey…"  
  
"Don't look at me. I can boil water and bake cookies from a roll, but that's about the limit of my chef qualifications," she informed him quickly.  
  
"Darn." They both laughed and ate for a while in silence. Serena finished her hamburger and started eating fries out of Darien's box.  
  
"So what did you do all day?" Darien asked, curious.  
  
"Nothing much. Just watched TV, mostly." Thinking of the TV room, she remembered something that she had wanted to ask him. "By the way, who's the little girl in the picture with you on the wall?"  
  
He shot her a surprised look at her seemingly out-of-the-blue question. "Picture on the wall?…"  
  
"In the TV room," she clarified.  
  
"Ah. Her name is Mina." He swiped the last fry before she could and stuffed it in his mouth.  
  
"Mina?" Serena prompted, patiently.  
  
"Yeah. She's my foster-sister."  
  
Sudden memories flashed through Serena's mind-- Sammy laughing…running through the woods…petting Luna…coughing blood onto his pajamas…  
  
"Foster…" she said, a little faintly.  
  
"That's right. My parents both died of cancer when I was eleven." His tone of voice was indifferent, but Serena caught a little flinch in his eyes. "So I went to a foster family that adopted me. But you don't want to hear about that. It's just a stupid sob story. Everyone's got one." Darien's eyes dropped to the table, away from hers.  
  
"No, I do," she assured him, a little more vehemently than she had meant to. She toned her voice back a little, "I really do want to hear it."  
  
His eyes flickered to hers once, then dropped back to where his finger was tracing a little circle in a spilled dab of ketchup. "Well, the couple that took me was told that they were barren and would never have kids of their own. That's why they wanted me. But two weeks after the adoption was finalized, they found out that my foster-mother was pregnant." He looked up in time to catch the widening of Serena's eyes. "Yeah, well, luckily, they were good people, and they said they never regretted getting me. When she found out the news, the first thing Marlene did was take me on her lap and say, 'Darien, you're going to have a little brother or sister!'" He smiled at the memory. Then he was solemn again. "She died giving birth to the baby, to my 'little sister'. Artemis, that's my foster-father, was pretty broken up about it; I guess we both were. But he's a tough guy. He raised both me and Mina, helped send me to college and made sure that I got every opportunity he could give me, just as if I were his own son."  
  
"You are his son," Serena said softly, "in every way that counts." Darien gave a lopsided smile, then propped his cheek on one hand and cocked his head at her.  
  
"So what's your sob story?"  
  
She startled and flicked her eyes away. "I…I don't have one."  
  
"Yes, you do. Everyone does," he insisted, with an odd tone in his voice. His gaze seemed to pierce her through.  
  
Serena bit her lip, trying to think of a way to dissuade him from this line of questioning. He spoke again before she could think of anything that might satisfy him.  
  
"Come on, I told you mine, now you have to tell me yours. It's only fair," he coaxed.  
  
She gauged the odd seriousness in his eyes. There was no getting around it, for some reason he was intent on hearing her 'sob story'. If she refused, he would get suspicious. The only thing she could do was try to act normal and make up something.  
  
Faking playfulness, she sighed heavily, as if severely vexed. "Oh, all right."  
  
Carefully, she constructed an edited version of her life-story, leaving out all mentions of the unusual phenomena that occurred around her. She told him that she had run away from her last home because they wouldn't let her keep Luna, which she figured was partly true. She also told him that she was eighteen. If he knew her real age, he might turn her in to the police. When she finished, he was silent, and she fidgeted in her chair, desperately hoping that he had bought her story.  
  
Finally he asked, slowly, "You have a locket from your Grandma Lita?" His eyes met hers, and for a moment, she thought he looked almost-- disappointed. But before she could wonder, the look was gone.  
  
"Yes," Serena said, trying to keep relief out of her voice. She reached under her-- well, really his-- shirt and pulled the gold oval into view. Darien leaned across the table and ran his fingers over the engraved pattern of crescent moon and miniscule stars. He had an intense expression on his face that Serena could not read. His fingers brushed across her hand as he moved to open the locket, and an uncontrollable shiver ran through her.  
  
He swung open the tiny golden hinges and turned the oval over. A round jewel dropped into his palm. He held it up between their faces, and light danced across its translucent surface. Slowly, locking his eyes with Serena, he drew something from his pocket. She was afraid to break his gaze to look at what it was. He seemed like another person entirely, with an arresting focus that did not belong to the playful Darien who she had met that morning. Keeping his eyes locked on hers, he laid something beside the stone in his palm, then took his hand away. Serena gasped.  
  
Two stones, almost identical in size and shape, lay cradled next to each other in the curve of his palm. One was softly shining with an almost ethereal, silver light. The other gleamed with translucent gold. The light mingled and played over Darien's skin, turning his hand into a jewel itself. When she could finally drag her eyes away to his, she found him staring at her with a strange light in his eyes, as well, the midnight transformed into sapphires. A little heat pricked at her chest, deep within, and she almost thought that a voice whispered deep inside her… ~*~Always…his glow, beside mine…when you need me, I will come…be strong, little one…always, and it will never fail you…~*~  
  
Serena shook her head abruptly, frightened at thoughts that were not her own creeping through her mind. She stood, shakily, and extended her hand to Darien. He held her gaze for a moment, then sighed and placed the silver stone in her palm. She slipped it back into her necklace, mumbled something about being tired, and left the room, trying to control her trembling.  
  
~----------~  
  
He watched her go, cursing himself. Way to go, Chiba. Now you've frightened her away.  
  
He rolled his golden stone around in his hand, feeling a little hurt. She hadn't told him the truth about herself…not that he had thought she would. It just would have been nice to know that she trusted him, that was all. Then he smacked himself in the forehead. She just met you this *morning*, Chiba, you think she's gonna trust you already? He sighed deeply and put his head down onto his arms. That morning. Last night. It had been last night that he found her. He had known her exactly twenty-eight hours, and had thought of nothing but her for the entire time. It was so strange, the way she seemed so familiar to him. He was sure he had never seen her before, except, perhaps, in a dream… But he had many dreams and didn't remember most of them.  
  
He stood up, slipping the stone into his pocket, and cleared the fast-food paper from the table. A vision of Serena's bare mid-drift and the memory of a low sleepy sound from deep within her throat filled the uncontrollable part of his brain that had mutinied and devoted itself to her. He groaned softly as the thought sprang unbidden into his mind that he knew exactly what he would dream of tonight.  
  
~----------~  
  
In his room, she sat on his bed and put her head in her hands. She shook it slowly, sliding her forehead across her knuckles. I…I imagined it. That has to be it. There were no voices. She lay back, spreading her arms to the side. So Darien has one, too. That doesn't mean anything. They probably sell them in some superstition store somewhere and he thought it was pretty.  
  
But did she really believe that? She rolled over on her side and buried her face in his pillow, inhaling his scent. Even she wasn't sure.  
  
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AN: keep those reviews comin', and I'll keep the story comin'! ^_^  
  
btw, no quote for this chapter *~* Need quote!! If anyone can find something that fits this chapter, (preferably poem or song lyrics) send it to ryo-chan@mindspring.com. Thanks! ^_^ 


	10. Ch. 9: Bitchy Beryl

AN: I am SO SO SO SO SO SORRY!!!!! It has been forever since I posted any new chapters, I know….. gomen!! But I got really sick with this stupid sinus infection that keeps coming back… I didn't feel like doing anything and I was so tired I would just go to sleep as soon as I got home. I feel a little better now so here are a whole bunch of chapters to make up for how long the few people who care had to wait!!  
  
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Never let a beautiful woman pick your path for you when there is a man in her line of sight.  
  
--Terry Goodkind, Wizard's First Rule  
  
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Chapter Nine: Bitchy Beryl  
  
Serena woke before Darien the next morning, and after fumbling about in his kitchen for a while, she managed to get herself a cup of coffee without his help. She installed herself in a chair across from where he slept on the couch with the steaming mug and her purring cat, feeling pleased with herself. She had just finished checking the paper thoroughly, and was happy to find no mention of herself, when Darien slowly came to life, sitting up, rubbing his messy hair, and blinking groggily. Serena giggled over the paper at him. He looked so cute with his hair all mussed.  
  
"Morning, beautiful," she teased, grinning evilly. He shot her a squinty, but nonetheless murderous, glare and disappeared into the kitchen. Emerging with a mug gripped in both hands a few minutes later, he looked much more sociable. She handed him the paper and was patiently silent while he glanced over it.  
  
The paper could not compete with the beautiful girl in front of him for his attention for long, and he set it down after hardly a glance. Regarding her solemnly, he wisely decided not to mention last night.  
  
"It's 7:40. I'll have to leave soon if I don't want to be late again today." Then he grinned mischievously. "Unless, of course, I decide to play hooky and stay in with a certain blonde…"  
  
Serena threw a nearby throw pillow at him. "Yeah, right. I'm sure watching cartoons with me all day is such an appealing idea," she said wryly.  
  
He gave her an odd look, thinking, The weird thing is, it is. "Were you really bored yesterday?" he asked, a sudden idea striking him.  
  
"Well…yeah," she admitted.  
  
"Ah, then I have an idea which just might suit you. Have you heard of Darmoon International?"  
  
"Um…no," she said, a little embarrassed, since she obviously was supposed to have.  
  
"Really? It's a big corporation, I mean really enormous. It would be hard to tell you exactly what they do because they've taken over so many companies and cover so many different industries all over the world. I work for them in their local office, the original headquarters. The Darmoon family lives around here, and they've got four children, three sons and a daughter."  
  
"What's all this have to do with me being bored?" Serena asked, wondering what the point to this explanation was.  
  
"Well, the youngest of the sons, name's Rubeus, I think, is throwing a party tonight and all the Darmoon employees of this local branch are invited. I didn't remember it until just now because I wasn't planning on going, but if you're bored…" he let his voice trail off in suggestion.  
  
Serena all but squealed, delighted with the promise of something other than mind-numbing daytime TV to look forward to. "A party? Darien, I'd love to!" Then she sagged with a sudden realization. "Oh, but I can't. I don't have anything to wear."  
  
Darien looked taken aback. "What? You have a whole bag full of clothes hanging in my TV room!"  
  
"But is this the kind of party where you can wear jeans and an old t- shirt?" she asked patiently.  
  
"It's not formal or anything," Darien said, but, thinking back to the last (and only) one of Rubeus' parties that he had been to, the girls really hadn't been wearing jeans… In fact, a lot of them hadn't seemed to be wearing much at all… He swallowed and continued quickly, "But I guess something more like a dress would be more appropriate…"  
  
"See? I don't have any dresses." All the pretty things that Mrs. Tsukino had insisted on buying for her were left at the Tsukinos' in her mad dash away. She sighed glumly now, wishing that she had grabbed one out of her closet.  
  
Darien studied her disappointed face, aquamarine eyes downcast, and reached an abrupt decision. He left the room and returned with his wallet. Serena stared at the bills he laid in her palm.  
  
"So buy yourself one," he said casually.  
  
She looked up with wide eyes, completely taken aback. "Darien, I can't take this. You don't have to…"  
  
"I want to," he interrupted her, reaching out and closing her fingers around the money. He held the fist shut between his hands. "Please? I'd really like you to go to the party with me, dressed in something pretty." His eyes implored her convincingly, but still, she held back, not feeling right about taking his money. He changed tactics, grinning rakishly at her and winking. "Of course, if you'd rather have me drag you there in boxers and an undershirt…"  
  
"Oh, fine. But only for you," she conceded, unable to keep from smiling back.  
  
"Good," he said happily. "And now, Mr. Chiba must partake himself to work, lest he be tardy, yet again." He released her hands and went into his room, coming back out a while later, dressed for work. He knelt before where she was sitting in an easy chair and kissed the back of her hand, like a noble gentleman of old.  
  
"Good day, my lady. I look forward with great pleasure to this evening," he intoned with a fake British accent, grinning at her. He rose and left with his briefcase, leaving her beaming in the chair, feeling simultaneously like a smiling idiot and a beautiful lady.  
  
~----------~  
  
Serena clutched nervously at Darien's arm, seized by a sudden attack of shyness.  
  
He looked down at her and smiled reassuringly. "Relax. You look beautiful, and you're going to have a great time."  
  
She ran a hand down her new dress, hoping it was okay. Darien obviously liked it… if half his compliments were true and not just flattery. She had spent all morning shopping for it and had been one hundred percent sure that it was absolutely perfect…until she reached the doorstep of the Darmoon mansion. The party sounds of loud music and shouting drifted through the door, tying her stomach in knots.  
  
Now, come on, Serena, get a hold of yourself. You've been acting the part of confident, self-sufficient adult all your life. This is just another audience to fool. Pulling up reserves of self-assurance, she straightened and let go of Darien's arm as he rung the bell.  
  
The door swung open immediately. A girl with short hair dyed bright blue and funky, square-shaped glasses was behind it, and a scene of multiple bodies pressed against each other and dancing was behind her. The girl squealed and threw her arms around Darien.  
  
"Dare! You came! Wow, I thought you said you were never coming to one of these again, after last time! Ooo, and you brought a girl with you!" The blue-haired girl turned to Serena and hugged her with as much enthusiasm as she had Darien. She drew away and continued, leaving Serena dazed and slightly breathless.  
  
"So, I'm sure Dare's told you *all* about me," she gushed, taking no notice of Serena's blank look. "But it's probably not true. I'm not really crazy, I just get a little excited sometimes."  
  
Talk about gross understatements, Serena thought as the girl babbled on.  
  
Darien cut right into the girl's chatter. "Serena, this is my friend Ami. She's quite insane, but mostly harmless, usually. Hey, Ames, you mind if we come in?"  
  
"Oh, sorry," Ami said cheerfully, moving out of the way so they could move inside the doorway.  
  
Serena moved unconsciously closer to Darien. There were people everywhere, all of them older than she was. Bodies pressed against bodies, moving in wild rhythm to pounding music, colored lights swinging over their heads and across skin-tight miniskirts and halter-tops. Serena flushed at the amount of skin showing all around her. Her own dress was spaghetti-strapped and short, but nowhere near as short as most in here. It was the same light blue as her eyes, covered with a pattern of silver flowers and leaves. A thin silver ribbon was threaded through the fabric and tied into a small bow under her breasts, and the rest of the dress hung straight to mid- thigh. She tucked her hair behind her ear nervously. She had left it down, afraid that someone would recognize her rather distinctive usual style from the picture in the paper. Darien laid a hand on her arm.  
  
"You okay?" he asked in her ear, so that he wouldn't have to shout over the music.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied, smiling up at him to prove the point.  
  
"This a private conversation?" a smooth voice came from nearby. Serena looked away from Darien's face and encountered the coldest stare she had ever seen in her life, directed right at her. A woman in a very short, very clingy, purple dress was standing in front of her and Darien, one hand on a curving hip. She let her cold gaze linger on Serena for a moment more, then turned a heated one on Darien. Her strangely reddish eyes traveled up and down his body, slowly. She licked her lips suggestively, and Serena blushed at such outright insinuation. "Hey, Darien," the woman said in a soft, low voice, completely unlike the one she had used before.  
  
"Hey, Beryl," he said, flatly. "Come on Serena, I want you to meet a friend of mine." He started to pull her away. Another woman stepped in front of him. Serena stared at her bright green hair, which fell in long waves to her black, strappy, and short dress.  
  
"Oh, is this the guy, Beryl? He's cute," the green-haired woman said.  
  
Beryl smiled smugly. "Darien, I want you to meet Emerald Darmoon. Emerald, this is Darien and…ah…his little friend," she said with a subtle sneer at Serena.  
  
She refused to be intimidated, and stood up to her full height, thankful for the enhancement of platform sandals. "Actually, my name is Serena."  
  
Beryl exchanged a look with Emerald. "Oh, really? How…cute."  
  
Emerald tried to effect a look of sweet innocence, and didn't quite manage it. "Is she your little sister, Darien? How nice of you to bring her!" She grinned and cocked her head at Serena. "And are you having a good time, sweetie?"  
  
Anger started to rise in Serena, and she felt Darien tense beside her. She had to do something, and fast, or he might do something that he would regret.  
  
Grinning back at Emerald, she bounced up and down and said in a sickly- sweet, baby voice, "Oh, yes, I'm having *such* a great time with all these big growed-up people, and it's all thanks to my big brother!" She hugged Darien and looked up at him with big eyes. "You're the bestest brother ever, Darien!"  
  
He looked down at her first with bewilderment, then, slowly, surprised amusement. His eyes laughed down at her as he effected a serious expression and patted her on the head.  
  
"Oh, that's okay, you know you've always been my favorite little sis! Come along now, I want you to meet another one of my big *growed*-up friends," he said in a patronizing big brother voice. "I'd love to stick around, girls, but, well, you know how sisters are," he told the miffed women, shrugging and putting an arm around Serena's waist. He led her away from them, and she threw a glance over his shoulder to see Beryl shooting daggers through her eyes and Emerald sighing in a bored manner and checking her long, green nails.  
  
"Way to go, Serena, you handled that really well!" Darien said, laughing with her.  
  
"Yeah, well, it was either that or get in a full-blown catfight, and I don't know about you, but I really don't want to be on the wrong side of that Emerald's two-foot claws," she replied, still giggling a little and feeling flushed from her small success. She, a seventeen year-old at her first real party, had gotten the better of two older women who were infinitely more experienced than she. Experienced in more ways than one, she thought, wryly, remembering the seductive way Beryl had licked her lips at Darien.  
  
"So who were they?" she asked, suddenly having a bad feeling about how Darien knew the auburn-haired witch.  
  
He looked away, scanning the crowd. "Oh…well, you heard Emerald's last name. She's the daughter of the Darmoon family. As for Beryl…she's just Beryl. There are no words to describe her," he finished, in a strangely weary tone.  
  
"I can think of a few," Serena muttered, various obscenities coming to mind. Either Darien didn't hear her, or he pretended not to.  
  
"Well, I really did want you to meet a friend of mine…actually, a couple of friends. Do you mind?"  
  
"No, I'd love to meet anyone you want me to," she assured him, agreeably. As long as all of them are male and decently clothed, she added silently.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	11. Ch. 10: Attempted Seductions

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
'Fair and foul are near of kin,  
  
And fair needs foul,' I cried.  
  
'My friends are gone, but that's a truth  
  
Nor grave nor bed denied,  
  
Learned in bodily lowliness  
  
And in the heart's pride.'  
  
--W. B. Yeats, "Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chapter Ten: Attempted Seductions  
  
Serena sipped her drink cautiously, worried about its alcohol content. It was only punch, but then, she wouldn't be surprised if it was spiked. She made a face as it burned down her throat. Definitely alcoholic. She dumped it in a nearby plant when no one was looking.  
  
Darien was still talking to Andrew. Something about carburetors. Men, honestly. Who cares about engine parts at a party? she thought, disgusted at the fact that he was ignoring her. Pretending not to care, she scanned the crowd below the balcony stairway where they stood, picking out the people that Darien had pointed out to her.  
  
The D.J. behind the table piled with stacks of CD's was Rubeus Darmoon, the youngest of the brothers and the one throwing the party. His wild red hair was flattened slightly under the thick band of the enormous headphones that covered his ears, and he was grinning suggestively at a large group of girls who were leaning against the gigantean speakers.  
  
She shifted her eyes to the next eldest of the Darmoon children, Emerald, who was sighing with boredom next to her friend, Bitchy Beryl. The redhead was watching Darien intently, obviously hoping that he would glance down and take advantage of the extensive view of her cleavage that the height allowed. Serena looked away quickly before the woman caught her gaze.  
  
She spotted two blue heads next to each other with no trouble at all. One was Ami, Darien's chatty friend who had opened the door; the other, Sapphire, the second eldest of the Darmoons. But while Ami's hair was a bright, obviously fake, royal blue, Sapphire's was dark, almost navy, so that Serena wondered if maybe it was really black with bluish highlights. Darien knew him, and had introduced her. She had liked him a lot; he had a gentle, kind sort of nature that made him naturally charismatic.  
  
Next to him, a head of longish, white-blond hair signified the presence of the eldest Darmoon brother, Diamond. Darien had introduced her to him, as well, and Serena shivered a little at the memory. Something about him was so cold…and she hadn't liked the way his eyes had traveled over her body.  
  
Darien shifted next to her, drawing her attention back to his presence. And then, suddenly, his hand was on her waist and there were absolutely no other thoughts in her head other than the little shockwaves of heat that were radiating from the spot.  
  
He kept talking, oblivious to her desperate struggle to keep from melting into him then and there.  
  
What is wrong with me? It's just a hand, a casually placed hand! she thought, angry with herself for her lack of control. Oh, but it was a nice hand, a big hand, with a little callus on the pads of the fingers and it fit into the curve of her hip so perfectly and she could feel its warmth through the thin fabric of her dress and she didn't want it to ever ever be taken away…  
  
And then it was, and she was immediately jerked to full awareness of her surroundings. She looked up at Darien, unable to mask surprise at the speed with which he withdrew his hand. He didn't meet her eyes.  
  
"Uh…you want another drink, Serena?"  
  
She looked down at her empty cup. No, she didn't, but…well, hell, if he wanted to get her one, let him.  
  
"Sure." Stupid Darien with his stupid hand, turning her to mush like that and then wanting to get her a drink.  
  
He took the paper cup and left her alone with Andrew and a cold spot on her skin where his hand had been.  
  
~----------~  
  
Darien caught the smirk that Andrew gave him as he fled and suppressed the urge to growl.  
  
Very funny, Swartz. Okay, so obviously his friend wasn't stupid, and obviously Darien wasn't very good at acting like Serena was merely his cousin, in from out of town. It was just that she was so beautiful, and that dress, and her hair was loose, and she had been so close, and he had just wanted to touch her so much…  
  
And it was just a little touch, really…it wasn't his fault that his body started going haywire and shockwaves of heat made it impossible to concentrate on what Andrew was saying because it was all he could do to keep from pulling her against him right then. Anyway, he had to get out of there while he still had enough control to take his hand off her waist and walk away.  
  
He threw her empty cup in a trash can that he passed, trying hard to pretend that he hadn't noticed the shiny mark of her lip-gloss on its rim.  
  
Sighing, he stopped, leaned against the wall, and pushed a hand into his hair in frustration. But he had. He had noticed something as stupid as a little shiny spot on a paper rim, and why? Because it was a little shiny spot that had touched *her* lips. Dammit, Chiba, he thought angrily, what the hell is wrong with you? She's just a girl. You've had girls before. You've never let one get to you like this! What is it about her?  
  
"Got a headache, Darien?" a sultry voice in his ear. He groaned and opened one eye.  
  
"Beryl. Yeah, I have a headache, and you're making it worse. You wanna leave me alone?" he asked, trying to make his voice as dangerous as possible.  
  
"Poor baby," she pouted her full red lips, ignoring his threatening attitude. "I could make it better," she whispered, pressing herself against him. The roundness of her breasts pressed into his arm, and her hand curled up behind him to the nape of his neck, playing with the hair there. He tried to move away, but the wall blocked his escape route.  
  
"Let go of me, Beryl," he warned, in a soft tone that he didn't have to work to make dangerous. She pressed herself harder against him, moving so that her breasts slid against his arm.  
  
"Admit it," she whispered, in a hot breath on his ear. "You want me as much as I want you."  
  
With surprising strength, the hand at the back of his neck pulled his head down and her lips were on his before he could react. Shock ran through his brain, then immediately anger. He pulled her hands off and roughly pushed her away. He held her wrists in a painful grip and forced her to look him in the eye.  
  
"No, I don't," he enunciated slowly, in the coldest tone he could manage. "I want you to leave me alone. It's over between us, Beryl, and it will never start again. Do you understand?"  
  
He held the woman's wrists tightly, and for about one second of time, shock and hurt flared vividly in her red eyes. Then, it was abruptly gone, and the wrists were wrenched from his grasp. She slapped him, hard, and stood in righteous indignation before him, chest heaving in her skimpy purple dress.  
  
"Stay the hell away from me, Darien," she growled, projecting her voice to the people around, "and don't ever touch me again!" She whirled, and was gone, leaving him with a stinging cheek and a lot of people glaring at him.  
  
He sighed deeply and went to get Serena's drink, thinking, Please, God, let that be the last I see of her.  
  
~----------~  
  
Serena shifted nervously, trying to think of what she should say to an older man, a friend of Darien's. Andrew was smiling to himself about something, though what it could be she couldn't fathom.  
  
He turned to her with a little chuckle. "So," he said, conversationally, "where are you staying?"  
  
Serena felt a little flare of panic. She couldn't say she was staying at Darien's, he would think… "Er, a hotel. Not far from here," she improvised quickly.  
  
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "What's the name of it?" he asked casually, taking a sip of the beer he was holding.  
  
"Oh, uh…I…don't remember." She giggled airily, imitating the cheerleaders at her high school. "I'm such a ditz sometimes!"  
  
Andrew grinned at her, but didn't say anything about her sudden act of air headed-ness. She cast desperately about for something to direct the line of discussion away from herself.  
  
"Um, so how does Darien know Beryl?" she asked the first thing that popped into her head. She immediately kicked herself as she realized the transparency of the question.  
  
Andrew's grin widened, and Serena groaned to herself, Oh, great, now he thinks I want to know because I'm jealous or something. Well, I'm not! Not at all!  
  
"Oh, they go waaay back, Beryl and Darien. He went out with her for a while, not too long ago. They were a real cute couple, if you ask me, but he broke it off pretty recently. Don't ask me why, I mean *look* at her." Andrew whistled low in appreciation of the silicone masterpiece that was Beryl. "Anyway, it's obvious to anyone that she still wants him, and I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted her, too. I wouldn't blame him if he did. What straight guy wouldn't want reserved seating with her, if you know what I mean?" He winked and jabbed Serena in the side with his elbow.  
  
She stared at him, open-mouthed in shock at what he was implying. Darien had dated Beryl…he had slept with her…he still wanted her… She shut her mouth with a snap and recovered her hold on herself quickly before she embarrassed herself further. Get a grip, Serena, of course he slept with her. He's twenty-one years old, he can sleep with whoever he wants. It's not like you care, anyway, she convinced herself. And of course he still wants her, like Andrew said, what straight guy wouldn't?  
  
She took a deep breath and turned to Andrew, hoping he hadn't noticed that she had to collect herself. He wasn't looking at her. His mouth was hanging open, and he was staring at a spot across the open space between the sides of the stairway balcony. She turned to see what held his attention.  
  
Darien was kissing Beryl.  
  
Her mind emptied, all thoughts of betrayal swept away by swift numbness. She turned and ran, not thinking, not knowing why she did. Blood pounded in her brain, music pounded against her ears, and sweaty bodies gyrated around her as she fled down the stairs to disappear in the mass of dancers below.  
  
She ran smack into something firm and warm. She would have pushed past and kept going, but strong hands came up under her elbows, preventing her escape.  
  
"Are you all right?" a voice asked. The tone was tender, but the voice was cold. It gave Serena the odd impression of warm fuzz laid deceptively over ice.  
  
She looked up into the clearest, pale blue eyes she had ever seen, framed by long strands of white-blond hair. The face was a hawk nose and a thin mouth, strong cheekbones and pale eyebrows, but an overall handsomeness despite the sharp features. She pulled together the scattered pieces of her mind to formulate a reply.  
  
"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you," she smiled at the man, trying to pull herself away from him. His hands remained on her elbows.  
  
"I…don't believe we've met. I am Diamond Darmoon." He smiled down at her, sending chills down her spine. "This is my brother, Sapphire," he said smoothly, gesturing at the blue-haired man that Serena had not noticed standing beside him.  
  
"Sapphire! I didn't see you there," she exclaimed, with a rush of warmth, giving Sapphire a grateful look for being there, for existing and for being a friendly face.  
  
"Serena," he responded warmly, smiling at her in a much less frightening way than his brother. "Why are you racing down the stairs? You could have knocked someone down, had you run into anyone less solid than Diamond here," he admonished, gently removing her from his brother's grip, which hadn't lessened. She let herself be transferred to his side with no protest, grateful for the support of his arm to cling to.  
  
"You know her, brother?" Diamond asked, his cold voice surprised.  
  
"Yes, this is Serena…Hino, was it?" Sapphire gave the name she had told him was her own. "She's a friend of Darien Chiba's." He frowned slightly in concern at her. "Speaking of him, where is Darien?"  
  
Immediately she was hit by the painful image of her last sight of him, lips locked with Beryl.  
  
"I…I…seem to have lost him in the crowd," she said quickly. "But I'm a big girl. I can look after myself." She forced a small laugh.  
  
Diamond's ice blue eyes pierced her. "Can you?" he asked, with a half- smile.  
  
She shifted uncomfortably under his scrutinizing gaze, and drew a little closer to Sapphire. The voice of D.J. Rubeus over his enormous speakers saved her from having to come up with a reply.  
  
"Hey, I hope everyone's having a wild time! Now, here's a golden oldie for all the established and soon-to-be couples here!"  
  
The din of shouting people quieted a little, and the first strains of "Crazy For You," by Madonna, floated from the massive speakers. The wild dancing slowed, and single bodies quickly formulated into couples, swaying as they clung to each other.  
  
Diamond took her arm from Sapphire. "Dance with me." It wasn't a question. She threw a glance back at Sapphire as his brother pulled her into the dancing, and he shrugged helplessly at her. Diamond pulled her against him, placing her hands on his shoulders and his own on her waist. Their bodies were closer than she would have liked, but his strong hands kept her from increasing the distance.  
  
He loosened one hand to tilt her face up to his. Ice blue eyes bore into her own, and something pricked at the back of her mind.  
  
"You are beautiful, do you know that?" he asked, holding her gaze as his fingers stroked across her cheek. She shivered uncomfortably. "Yes, very beautiful. Like a goddess," he whispered, close to her ear.  
  
A strange sensation filled her. Black. Like. . . black, she thought, not knowing why. Heat started to rise in her chest. A force was pushing, forcing its way into her mind.  
  
Diamond's voice whispered seductively in her ear, "So beautiful. So desirable. I desire you. I will love you, I will love your body. Melt into me, goddess. Melt into desire."  
  
The force pushed harder, and the heat flared in response. A black voice was whispering, you desire, yes, you desire, and the force pressed against her mind.  
  
No, a stronger voice said. No, I don't want to. Serena gasped as the heat flared silver across her vision. Get out of my mind!  
  
Her vision cleared, and she stumbled away from a shocked Diamond, who stood staring at her and rubbing his forehead. His face contorted in anger.  
  
"Who…" his voice began, colder than ice.  
  
She turned to run, and was stopped against something firm and warm for the second time that night. She looked up into concerned, midnight blue eyes as strong, comforting arms encircled her.  
  
"Are you all right?" Darien asked her.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	12. Ch. 11: Angel Ami

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."  
  
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.  
  
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."  
  
--Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chapter Eleven: Angel Ami  
  
For the space of about three seconds, Serena was never happier to see anyone in her life. She relaxed into his arms, letting her cheek rest on his chest, enjoying the comforting feeling of warm protection around her.  
  
Then she remembered.  
  
Abruptly pulling away, she shook her head to clear it of the horrible image of Beryl pressed against him. "I...I'm fine," she stuttered. She couldn't meet his eyes, or anyone else's. She was suddenly, horribly confused. Only a moment ago, Diamond had been…and then Darien…and before that…it was too fast. Everything was happening at once, and she couldn't bear to stay here any longer.  
  
"I…have to go to the bathroom," she muttered, turning away from them before anyone could protest. She had no idea where the restroom was in this house, but that didn't matter. She'd find it somehow. What was important was getting away so that she could try to gather up the scattered pieces of her mind and make sense of the world again.  
  
~----------~  
  
Sensing that something was wrong, Darien called after her and tried to follow, but was stopped by a strong grip on his arm.  
  
"Darien Chiba, wasn't it?" Diamond was smiling at him in that cold way of his. "I remember you. From the last of my little brother's…get-togethers." Cruel amusement shone in his pale eyes. "If I recall correctly, you and…Beryl, I believe?….put on quite a show for us on the coffee table…Quite amusing, I must congratulate you."  
  
Darien felt a strong flare of hatred, and repressed an urge to wipe that smug grin off the man's face. It wouldn't do to punch out his company's junior CEO, after all. He forced a smile. "Yeah, well, don't expect a repeat performance. My drink was heavily spiked at the time."  
  
Diamond nodded and made a sound of agreement that made it clear that he thought Darien was obviously lying. He felt another, stronger surge of anger. It was true, his drink had been spiked with something strong. Otherwise, he would never have let Beryl go down on him in public like that. He hardly ever drank, anyway. He hated the feeling of loosing control. He pushed past the other man, nodding a friendly welcome and goodbye in one to Sapphire.  
  
"Well, I think I should go make sure that Serena's all right…"  
  
Once again, Diamond stopped him from leaving. "You don't think she can find the potty by herself?" he asked, mocking. "I know she's young, but really, Darien…by the way, wherever did you find her? Such a delicious little thing…" He leaned in close to Darien's ear so that only he could hear him. "Have you fucked her yet, or shall I be the first to ride her when I corner her?"  
  
Darien's hands clenched into fists, his blood boiling. How dare he speak such profanity? About Serena, about *his* Serena…heat rose in his chest, and his control snapped, all thoughts of keeping his job evaporated. His midnight blue eyes sparked furiously into Diamond's pale ones, tinted with feral amusement.  
  
"You won't go anywhere near Serena," he ground out between clenched teeth, shaking with the effort of controlling his fury.  
  
A cruel smile stretched across thin lips, the smile of a hunter toying with his prey. "Oh, won't I?"  
  
A black force crept almost imperceptively against Darien's mind, and he gasped with recognition. Instantly, golden heat rose to meet it, and he tore away with blazing eyes, chest heaving as he faced the pale, predatory grin of Diamond.  
  
"No, you won't," he said, more strongly than he had ever said anything in his life. Heat blazed across his vision, dancing in him like a living thing that stood by his side, ready to rise to battle if need be. Black force danced similarly in the pale eyes that bore into his own, both men locked in a stare of icy competition, dancing power between them.  
  
"Um, Darien, ah, sorry if this is, uh, a bad time, but I, er, need to talk to you." Andrew's voice startled both men out of their silent battle, and Darien swung his gaze in surprise to his friend, standing beside him. He felt the heat drain from him slowly, the golden blaze ceasing to fill his vision. Feeling slightly dazed, he allowed himself to be led away without so much as a glance back at the two eldest Darmoon brothers.  
  
Andrew pulled him to a secluded corner of the floor, pushing through clumps of moving bodies to insure that he and Darien would be unheard. On the other side of the dance floor, he pulled Darien down beside him on an easy chair and leaned in so that he wouldn't have to shout.  
  
"Dude, what the hell was that about? You looked like you were about to kill that guy! Don't you know who he is? You could lose your job!"  
  
Darien sighed, sulkily scanning the dense pack of people around them. "Yeah, well, maybe some things are more important than my lousy job."  
  
Andrew snorted. "Yeah, right, like, let's see…world peace, maybe…get real, Darien. You know as well as I do that if Darmoon fires you, you gotta fly half around the world to find even a Burger King that'll take you."  
  
"Okay, okay, I see your point. Jeez. What do you want, a gold medal?" Both men were silent for a moment. Then Darien mumbled, "Thanks, man."  
  
"No prob." Andrew punched him on the shoulder. "Gotta look out for my main dude, after all." His grin disappeared, and was replaced with a sheepish look. He looked away. "Uh…'sides, I, uh, kinda messed up a little, I think…"  
  
Instantly wary, Darien focused an intensely suspicious glare on his best friend. "What do you mean, you messed up?"  
  
Andrew squirmed uncomfortably. "Uh, well, you know that girl you came with? Serena?"  
  
One eyebrow went up in impatient sarcasm. "Yeah, I'm fairly sure I know who you're talking about."  
  
"Well, ah, it was pretty obvious that she wasn't your cousin, you know, and I could tell you liked her, so I, uh, tried to…er, help you out a little, only I think it kinda backfired."  
  
" 'Backfired'?" Darien's stomach sunk. Not sure he really wanted to know, he asked anyway, "What did you do?"  
  
"Um, well I thought it might help if I could, you know, incur some jealousy, to make her feel like she should make a move before you get taken. You know, chicks think like that," Andrew looked at Darien desperately, begging him to validate this logic.  
  
"Go on," Darien prompted warily, with growing alarm.  
  
"So I told her that you still had the hots for Beryl, and would probably take her back if she asked you."  
  
"You did WHAT?! You idiot, I HATE Beryl!"  
  
"Yeah, well, she doesn't know that! And anyway, it probably would have worked if you hadn't gone and kissed her where Serena could see! What'd you do that for, anyway? I thought you didn't want her anymore," Andrew said defensively.  
  
"Well, of course I don't want her, SHE kissed ME, and…" Darien's voice trailed off as the full impact of what Andrew had said hit him. All the blood drained from his face. "Wait a sec…you mean…she saw that?"  
  
Andrew nodded, fearfully.  
  
"GODDAMMIT!" Darien slammed his fist down on the arm of the chair, causing several dancers to scatter away.  
  
Andrew looked frightened. "Whoa, chill, dude, she's just a chick…you can just…explain or something…"  
  
"Are you kidding?! I can't explain something like that! Why would she believe me? She'll believe what she saw with her own eyes, and I know what it looked like…" He put his head in his hands, rubbing the massive headache that was starting there.  
  
Andrew patted his back awkwardly, not really knowing what to do. He'd never seen Darien so worked up before. "Listen, man…I'm really sorry…I really did think I was helping…"  
  
Suddenly, Darien's head sprang up from his hands. "No, that's okay…yeah, that's great! I know exactly what to do!" He clapped Andrew hard on the back, sending him into a fit of coughing. "Thanks, man!" He jumped up and disappeared into the crowd.  
  
Andrew recovered and stared after his friend, wondering who the hell he was and what he had done with Darien.  
  
~----------~  
  
"Well, I don't know, Dare…"  
  
"Please? Pretty please? Please with a cherry on top?"  
  
"Give me one good reason why I should save your butt."  
  
"Because you're the nicest person who ever lived and the very best friend I have and I'll be forever indebted to you and I'll do anything you want and I…"  
  
"Okay, okay! I said ONE reason!"  
  
"So you'll do it?"  
  
Ami sighed. "Yeah, I'll do it."  
  
Darien fell to his knees, making a show of kissing her hand. "Thank you, thank you, oh wonderful angel, you've saved my life!"  
  
She laughed and patted him on the head. "Sure, sure, but don't forget, you owe me big-time. Now you just sit here--" she pushed him into a chair, "-- and let angel Ami take care of everything." And with a wink, she was gone, bouncing down the hallway to the tiny bathroom on the first floor.  
  
~----------~  
  
Serena leaned over the sink to inspect her face in the mirror, supporting herself with a hand on either side of the bowl. There were red splotches around her eyes and nose from crying. Turning on the water, she splashed the cold wetness over her face and patted it dry with a green towel hanging on the rack. She made a second inspection. Not much improvement.  
  
Hanging up the towel, she slid back onto the tile floor, feeling its coldness through the fabric of her dress. She covered her face with her hands, willing the tears to stop.  
  
What is the matter with me? she thought angrily, exasperated with herself. There was no reason to cry, for heaven's sake. Just because Darien had kissed Bitchy Beryl. Why did she care, anyway? I don't, she corrected quickly. But he didn't just kiss her. . . he slept with her, too. Not that I care about that, either. He's a grown man. He can do whatever he wants. It certainly doesn't have anything to do with me. Hell, I don't even really know him. . .yeah, I'm just living in his apartment, that's all. . . What the hell am I doing here, anyway? I don't know these people.  
  
A fresh bout of tears broke through her control as the full reality of her situation hit her for the first time. She didn't know any of these people, not even Darien, really. She knew he was an orphan, like her, that he had an adopted father and sister, that he had his own apartment. But she had just met him *yesterday*, for God's sake. So where did that leave her? Living with a stranger, with nowhere to go… she couldn't stay where she was forever. Eventually he would figure out who she really was and then it would all be over. He would turn her in and she would be back in Ms. Rei's office before she could say "foster family number eight." She had been through too much to let that happen now.  
  
She let her head drop back against the wall behind her. But where could she go? She didn't have any family, didn't know anyone who would be willing to take her in. And she was still too young to get a place of her own. There was nothing she could do. Nowhere she could go. No matter what she did, sooner or later she would end up back in foster care and probably in trouble with the police, too. She had broken all that expensive equipment and ran away, lied about who she was… surely she had broken some kind of law…  
  
The tears came faster, and she wrapped her arms around her knees, rocking and sobbing in desperation. She was thinking in circles, like some kind of caged animal…  
  
A sharp knocking on the door interrupted her bout of despairing self-pity. She tentatively lifted her head.  
  
"S-someone's in here," she called, shakily.  
  
"I know," a muffled voice came through the door, "let me in, Serena."  
  
She froze. Who could it be? Someone who knew her name… Fearfully, she placed a hand on the doorknob. Gathering her courage, she scolded herself for being such a ninny and turned the knob.  
  
"Hey girl! What's up? Mind if I join your little private party?" Without waiting for an answer, the bright blue head of Ami appeared next to Serena's, as the girl shut the door and sat on the floor beside her. She pulled a length of toilet paper off the roll and handed it to Serena. Serena accepted it, completely mystified.  
  
"Here, blow your nose. So you're sitting in the bathroom, huh? Doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun to me, but, hey, whatever rings your bell." She giggled. "Don't you just love that expression? Anyway, I thought you might like some company. So what are you doing in here when there's a totally gorgeous guy worrying about you outside?"  
  
Serena sniffed and tried to regain a little of her composure. "Well, I--"  
  
"Well, I guess Dare might be a tad old for you, but if it were me, I certainly wouldn't let that stand in my way. Besides, he is so totally crushed on you! It's so cute. I've never seen him so completely gone on a girl. Do you know he practically begged me to come check on you? Oops, but I wasn't supposed to tell you that. Oh well, he doesn't have to know that you know."  
  
There was a pause, and Serena tried again. "I don't think--"  
  
"So, anyway, what are hiding for? Unless you don't like him…but what's not to like? I don't mind admitting that I was crushed on him for a while. And I can totally vouch that he's a great guy. Not to mention incredibly hot…" Ami pantomimed fanning herself, drawing a small giggle from Serena. "There you go! No use in being sad when you could be happy, that's what I always say."  
  
She paused again to take a breath, and Serena jumped in quickly before the chatter could continue. "It's really nice of you to come in here with me, Ami, but--"  
  
"But nothing! I probably would have come and found you after a while even if Darien hadn't asked me. You seem like such a sweetheart, and of course, any crush of Dare's is a friend of mine!"  
  
"BUT, I think you've gotten the wrong idea about me and Darien. Beryl--"  
  
Ami immediately silenced her with a look. She got up, went to the sink, and holding back her short blue locks, spat. "That's what anyone with any kind of decency thinks of Beryl. Even…in fact, *especially* Darien. Do you know what the only reason he was involved with her in the first place was?"  
  
Serena shook her head.  
  
Ami sat down again, obviously immensely pleased to intimate of a bit of juicy gossip. "Well, see, she and Emerald Darmoon have been really good friends for a while now, since a couple years ago. So she's always at the Darmoon parties. And she and Emerald have this little game they play, where they see who can seduce some guy first, and how far they can get him to go in public. It's pretty disgusting. Well, anyway, at the first, and, we all thought, last ever, party that Darien went to, Beryl decided that she was going to get him. She put something in his drink, and, long story short, he never knew what hit him. She's been trailing poor Dare ever since." Ami shook her head in disgust.  
  
"But, but I saw…"  
  
"I don't know what you saw, but I know what I know, and I know that Beryl is the bane of Darien's existence. That little witch thinks that she can seduce him eventually if she just keeps trying, and he's too nice to just tell her to fuck off. That's not why you're hiding in here, is it?"  
  
Serena didn't know what to say, so she didn't say anything. Ami took that as an answer, apparently, because she sat down beside her again and patted the younger girl's hand. "Don't worry, hon, it's a mistake we all make. But just trust me, I've known Dare a long time, and there is nothing between him and Beryl other than some kind of sick game in a twisted witch's mind. So why don't you come out of this little bathroom now, and let a nice, handsome guy who's totally freaking out over you fuss over you a bit, hmm? Darien's so sweet when he's worried about someone, you should totally take advantage of it." Ami winked and pulled her to her feet. "So come on, what do you say?"  
  
Feeling like a pampered little girl and more than a little foolish, Serena ran a hand down her dress and darted a glance at her splotchy face in the mirror. "I look awful…" she protested feebly.  
  
"Oh, I can fix that," Ami instantly assured her, snapping open her purse and confidently smearing foundation across the red spots before Serena could protest. She managed to stop her from doing a complete makeover, however. Ami looked disappointed. "Well, if you're sure…come on, let's go, before Dare has a total heart attack about how long I've been gone. Oh, and remember, you're not supposed to know that he sent me after you."  
  
"My lips are sealed," she promised wryly. "Oh, wait, Ami, there's something I've been dying to ask you…"  
  
"Anything," said Ami, with her characteristic bright smile.  
  
"Um…why do you dye your hair blue?"  
  
The smile widened. "What are you talking about? This is all natural, baby!" And with that, Serena was pulled out of the bathroom and down the hall.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	13. Ch. 12: Lady and the Tramp

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What is it about Disney movies? ^_^  
  
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Chapter Twelve: Lady and the Tramp  
  
Darien tapped on the arm of the chair nervously. What was taking so long?  
  
"Oh man," he groaned, worrying about the various ways his 'brilliant' idea could have gone wrong, "Where *is* she?"  
  
"Right behind you, silly!" a familiar, bubbly voice came from behind his chair.  
  
Jumping up, he turned around to the very welcome sight of Ami tugging Serena toward him. He almost cried with relief to see that the blonde was smiling at him. He had come so close to losing her… Wait a second, since when am I trying to win her? He pushed away the question, not really caring as long as she was here rather than crying alone in a bathroom somewhere… His heart wrenched painfully at the mental image.  
  
"So did you miss us terribly, Dare?" Ami was asking, with a grin. He gave himself a mental shake. Get a hold of yourself, Chiba. He grinned back and winked.  
  
"Of course! I just don't know what to do with myself without you lovely ladies by my side," he teased, good-naturedly.  
  
"Well, I think I'll let you make do with one lovely lady for a while, Dare…ah, things to do, people to see, you know," said Ami, with a terribly obvious wink in his direction. "Toodle-oo!" she called, waving her fingers at them as she disappeared into the crowd.  
  
Darien laughed easily, happy to be alone with Serena. "That is so Ami. Don't you just love her? Her personality is as bright as her hair."  
  
Serena giggled, suddenly feeling a little shy. She looked down at where her fingers were absently picking at a loose string on her dress. The realization came to her that she was very tired, drained from the emotional whirlwind of the night.  
  
"Um…Darien? Is it all right with you…I mean, I'm kinda tired…do you think we could go home now?"  
  
As he was also very tired of this party and the close calls of the night, Darien happily agreed. Using the excuse of the heavy crowds to put his arm around her, he guided her out to his car.  
  
~----------~  
  
Diamond watched as they left together, the other man's arm draped possessively around her waist. He swirled the spiked punch in his paper cup, experiencing an unfamiliar feeling, something he hadn't felt in a while. Jealousy, perhaps? Such a petty emotion… Anger, maybe. Displeasure, certainly.  
  
With an irritated sigh, he pulled black power into his mind and called. Sapphire.  
  
After a moment, the door to his room opened, spilling loud music and party sounds inside. A dark blue head ducked and entered, and the door was shut again, restoring the relative quietness of Diamond's personal bedroom. Diamond did not turn his head, but continued staring out of his window at the fast-disappearing car that carried the girl and the man.  
  
After a moment of standing in silence, the younger man cleared his throat nervously. "Ah… you called me, brother?"  
  
"Yes," he answered simply, still not looking at the other man. After a space of silence, he could hear Sapphire shift his weight uncomfortably. Diamond smiled a small smile to himself. He loved such games. When the tension mounted to its climax, he turned and fixed a piercing gaze on his younger brother, catching him just as he was about to speak. With the other man thrown off guard, he pressed the advantage.  
  
"This…Serena, and Darien. Tell me, brother, what are your…impressions of them?"  
  
Sapphire swallowed hastily, trying to regain his self-poise. Diamond watched with amusement as the younger man hastily shifted his features to a blank mask. It was pathetic, really, that he actually thought he could hide his emotions. His voice was quiet when he replied, "Well, Serena seemed a sweet girl, a little young, but fairly mature for her age, I'd say, and Darien seemed rather protective of her and…" A flash in Diamond's pale eyes warned him, and he halted immediately.  
  
"You know," the older man enunciated slowly, menacingly, "that that is not what I meant." Sapphire kept his mask, meeting his brother's icy gaze. Diamond dropped the connection and took a swig of his alcoholic fruit punch, trying to control his frustration. His patience was wearing thin. Damn Sapphire and his defenses! It was so much easier to just bend people to his will by force… Aware of the improbability, he decided to try anyway. Summoning a little bit of power, he crept very, very slowly, with utmost caution, against Sapphire's mind, barely moving at all.  
  
The younger man smiled for the first time. "You should know better, brother," he chided gently. The force was turned back.  
  
Diamond sighed and looked away, out to the dark street again. The heavy music from below pounded through the floor and into his brain, causing an ache of pain there. Obviously, his little brother was getting too smart for his own good. He would have to try a different tactic.  
  
Turning back, he made his hard, ice blue eyes as soft as possible, no easy feat. "Come, brother," he wheedled, in a gentle tone, "don't be like that. You know I only ask because you are quite likely to know better than I." That was true, as much as he hated to admit it. "Come, sit with me. Have a drink," he pleaded, using his softest tones.  
  
Sapphire's blank mask melted for only a moment, but Diamond caught it. For an instant, he could see, quite clearly in the glittering, dark blue eyes of his younger brother, the other man's deep fraternal love for him. He almost balked, as he did every time he caught a glimpse of it, but he was much more adept at smothering such things than Sapphire. Still, it was a mystery, and one that he spent quite a lot of time thinking about. He just couldn't understand why the younger man loved him so. He would sometimes, perversely, do things simply because he knew that Sapphire would hate them, and be angry, just to test the boundaries of this hidden emotion. But no matter what he did, his younger brother's love held: a sense of faith, no matter how many times he proved himself unworthy of the affection. Perhaps that was why he kept the man with him so much, he mused. Perhaps that was why he had chosen Sapphire, out of all his siblings, as the sole one that he trusted with the knowledge of what he carried.  
  
"I prefer to stand," the younger man said quietly, and a chuckle almost broke through Diamond's control. He may love me, but he does not trust me, he thought wryly, feeling inexplicably proud of his little brother.  
  
"Then stand," he said mildly, shifting his long legs beneath him where he sat on the window seat. He paused for a moment, then continued carefully. "Well, you won't tell me flat out, perhaps you will answer my questions?"  
  
Caution was written in every line of Sapphire's body. "It depends on the questions, I suppose," he answered in a falsely light voice.  
  
Diamond smiled. "That's my brother. You *are* wary of me tonight, aren't you? Tell me, little brother, what exactly do you think I am going to do if you tell me what I want to know?"  
  
Confusion broke through the mask. "I…don't really know."  
  
"But it must be something horrible, correct?" Diamond leaned back and chuckled, taking a sip from his paper cup. "Well, you're probably right." He sighed with sudden moodiness and regarded Sapphire pensively. "I suppose you've known me too long, brother."  
  
Sapphire swallowed, not knowing what to say. Diamond sighed again and reached into the pocket of his jacket, withdrawing a small, square, silver case, etched with a design of moon and stars. Opening it, he let a round, black stone roll from the velvet lining into his palm. He watched as his brother tensed. Holding it up to the light, he let it shine and sparkle before his pale eyes; a dark light, a black glow, seemingly impossible, but right there in his hand. It never ceased to fascinate him. He caught his brother's fearful sapphire gaze.  
  
"So you won't tell me what you think? Well, then, I'll tell you what I believe. Each of them," he nodded toward the window, "has one of these. What colors, I'm not sure; that's your forte. But there is no other explanation that I can think of for how they each resisted me. Each of them carries a sacred crystal."  
  
He watched his brother's face carefully, and years of experience in reading the man told him all he needed to know.  
  
~----------~  
  
Flicking on the lights, Darien tossed his keys on the counter and tried to pretend he wasn't watching as Serena stretched herself almost out of her dress. She let out a big yawn and flopped down on the sofa, kicking off her platform sandals. Smiling at her cuteness, he crossed to the living room and leaned over the back of the couch.  
  
"So what now?" he asked, smiling down at her aquamarine eyes, half-lidded with heavy eyelashes. "You gonna go to sleep on my couch? Good, then I'll get the bed tonight," he teased, grinning.  
  
Her eyes came open all the way. She picked up a throw pillow and swung it at his head. "No, you silly!"  
  
He ducked, and came up grinning. "Oh, so you want me to sleep on the couch with you?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Why, Serena, I didn't know you cared!"  
  
She sat up, mischief sparkling in her eyes. "That does it, buster. You're going down!"  
  
Laughing and screaming, they chased each other down the hall, each armed with pillows. Swirls of feather escapees followed after them, drifting through the dusty air. In the TV room, Darien managed to grab her pillow away and pinned her beneath him on the couch.  
  
Gasping with laughter and exertion, Serena shrieked, "Not fair! I'm unarmed!" She squirmed and struggled, but he had her body locked beneath his own.  
  
"Is too fair! I got you! Say 'uncle!'" he commanded, still laughing. He felt so strange, like a little kid again, instead of a twenty-one year old businessman. It was a nice feeling, to not have to be an adult all the time.  
  
Her hysterical laughter slowly died down in fits, and she met his eyes, inches above her. Suddenly he realized how close they were; the curves of her body pressed into his, heat melting through clothing between them. The childlike feeling immediately evaporated in a puff of steam from very adult hormones. Her lips parted slightly, and he could feel her hot breath on his own mouth, hovering above hers. Obeying a voice far beyond his control, he slowly closed the distance.  
  
"Uncle!"  
  
He froze, and it took a full five seconds for his brain to process the word. She was grinning up at him, still caught in the game. The word's meaning finally slammed into him with the force of a brick wall, and he immediately rolled off her, as though burned. Sitting up, he desperately shook himself, trying to regain control. Chiba, you idiot! You were going to kiss her! he admonished himself. And why is that such a bad thing? another voice countered.  
  
Oblivious to his distress, she rolled off the couch and crawled toward his television, then laid on her stomach to peer at the boxes of videos stacked under its table. His train of thought came to a screeching halt and refocused completely on her. Did she have any idea how she looked in that short dress, barefoot and stretched out across the floor? She looked back at him with innocent fun sparkling in her eyes. "Let's watch a movie, Darien! Do you want to?"  
  
He took a shaky breath. No, she was completely unaware of her effect on him. He gathered his wits.  
  
"Uh, sure! What do you want to see?"  
  
She looked back at the videos he owned, squinting to read their titles in the dim light. She pulled one out and gave him an incredulous look. "'Lady and the Tramp?' Why, exactly, does big, grown-up Mr. Chiba have a copy of a Disney movie?"  
  
Darien colored, and was glad for the insufficient lighting. "Well, you know my little sister, Mina? It's her favorite movie, and she comes over sometimes, so I keep it here for her."  
  
Serena grinned. "Aw, that's so cute! Unless you're just making up an excuse…" she pulled an expression of mock suspicion, then smiled again. "But I believe you." She turned around and stuck the video into the VCR's slot, then came over and sat next to him on the couch. He gave her a strange look as the FBI warning appeared on the screen.  
  
"We're watching this?" he asked, in a carefully neutral tone.  
  
"Yep," she replied happily, not giving any more explanation than that. She snuggled into the couch, and the opening credits started rolling, with black and white sketches of the town and a snowy Christmas evening. Jim, Dear handed the wiggling package with a big bow to Darling, and Serena sighed with delight. "I love this movie."  
  
[AN: If you haven't seen the movie, or don't remember, 'Jim, Dear' and 'Darling' are Lady's owners]  
  
Darien laughed when she laughed at the cuteness of the puppy Lady. He found himself marveling at how she was so completely unabashed about her love for something as childish as a kid's movie. Most girls he knew would rather die than admit they cooed over a cartoon puppy. They all thought they were so sophisticated and sexy, but Serena didn't even try, and he found her more attractive than any other woman he had met. Barefoot on the sofa, hugging a throw pillow and giggling at a Disney movie, she was, for some inexplicable reason, the most beautiful sight he had ever laid eyes on.  
  
During the beautiful music after the famous "spaghetti scene", Darien felt a soft thud on his shoulder and looked down to see waves of golden hair spilling across his buttoned shirt. He waited a very long moment, then slowly inched his arm behind her, praying she wouldn't move away. Someone up there must have been listening, because far from moving away, she snuggled in under his arm, laying her head on his chest. He let his cheek rest in her hair, breathed in the heavenly smell of lavender shampoo, and sent fervent, multiple prayers of thanks. The rest of the movie passed in a blur for him, as he was too busy concentrating on the sensations that she sent rocketing through his body to really pay attention to anything else. The ending screen appeared and faded to static, but Darien didn't want to get up to stop the tape. In fact, he didn't ever want to move again. Just to stay like this forever, holding her…  
  
He closed his eyes. There was no more denying it. He had fallen. Hard. Opening his eyes, he lifted his head to look down at her face. Her eyes were closed, the picture of angelic serenity resting against the fabric of his shirt. A small, tender smile crept up on him. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing.  
  
"Serena," he whispered, half just to say her name. "Are you awake?" He waited. No response.  
  
Gently, so as not to disturb her sleep, he pulled her legs across his lap and slipped an arm under her knees. He carried her down the hall, not bothering to shut off the VCR. He laid her in bed, and she rolled into the pillows, making a small sound in her throat. Luna, who was sleeping on the bed, stirred and stretched, greeting him with a sleepy meow. He ran a hand down her soft fur and gently picked her up, settled the covers over Serena, and set her back down again. The cat settled herself, purring, against Serena's legs, and Darien knelt beside the bed, reluctant to leave.  
  
Her long lashes rested lightly on her cheeks, trembling slightly as her eyes moved with a dream. Her hair was tangled, lying in messy waves, a halo of gold on his pillow. The edge of pale blue and silver fabric showed under the hem of the bedspread, twisted and wrinkled with the abuse of careless sleep-movements. Moonlight poured through his gauzy curtains, casting her delicate features in a silvery glow. A single strand of wispy hair hung across her face, invitingly mocking him. Unable to help himself, he reached out and gently moved it back into place, stroking his fingers over her cheek. Feeling as though he was in a kind of trance, he let his fingers linger, following the lines of her cheekbone, her jaw line…and with a quickened breath, her lips. He reverently traced the softness of them, feeling his heart rate increase. It was but a small movement, to lean his head closer to hers…  
  
He shifted so that he supported his weight on either side of her. "Good night, Serena," he whispered, and allowed his lips to gently touch hers. Then he tore himself away, not trusting himself to be alone with her any longer.  
  
~----------~  
  
As soon as the door was softly pulled closed against its frame, Serena's eyes sprung open, and she sat up in bed. Luna stirred agitatedly at being disturbed yet again, and let out a grumpy protest as she resettled herself. Paying no attention to the cat, Serena lifted her fingers in wonder to lips that were tingling with his kiss. Her breathing quickened as she thought of how it had felt to lay her cheek against his chest, to feel the warmth and firmness of his skin beneath thin fabric and to hear the beating of his heart. She had felt…safe and warm, like nothing could hurt her. He had laughed with her, teased her, made her feel beautiful. And he had…he had…kissed her. Her first kiss.  
  
Slipping out from beneath the covers that he had laid over her, she went to stand at the window. Gauze curtains parted to reveal a strange landscape of a city street transformed by silver moonlight. The moon was very bright that night, large, round, and resting contently, cradled in the arms of the diamond stars.  
  
Serena sighed softly, leaning one cheek on her slender hand. This had been such a confusing night. Quite possibly the furthest range on the emotional spectrum that she had ever experienced in such a short amount of time. She had started out feeling confident and adult, going to a party on Darien's arm. Then she had seen…and then Diamond had made her feel like a helpless child, weak and easy to manipulate. After that, she had been miserable, out- of-place and lost, with no set course of action. And then she had been a little kid, chasing around with pillows and watching a Disney movie. And now…she was floating somewhere up there with the stars.  
  
It was all so strange… Just a few days ago, she had been regular old orphan Serena, trying to make it with yet another foster family. Now she…well, now she didn't really know quite what she was, or what she was doing.  
  
She looked up, and his beautiful eyes smiled down at her from the heavens. She drew in her breath, and knew only one thing. She didn't want to leave.  
  
  
  
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AN: okay, that's it again for a while…..gomen, but I do think that is a nice place to leave it and I will try to get more chapters out a lot sooner than last time! ^.^;; 


	14. Ch. 13: Pink Roses, Neatly Trimmed

AN: Okay, I lied. Sorry about that… I've been busy -.-;;  
  
Also, to tell you the truth, the quote thing is holding up the posting of chapters a lot cuz it takes me so long to find a quote that fits each chapter…but I've been told that the quotes are cool so what do I do?? Oh well, I'll just post chapters and if they don't have a quote right away, well, then I'll find one eventually. Does that make everyone happy? Good. Now, finally, we get on with the story!!  
  
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Chapter Thirteen: Pink Roses, Neatly Trimmed  
  
Serena held the wishstone high above her head, treading softly within its silver circle. She stopped abruptly as a dark form whirled before her. Pale eyes gleamed as it stepped within her ring of light, bringing its dark glow with it. "You came, Serenity," it said, with a cold, cold voice and an icy smile. Pain flared and she opened her mouth to scream, but heat rose quickly to silence the agony. Strong arms encircled her from behind, and a warm whisper came in her ear, "I'll always be with you. You should've known; you can always trust me." The arms let go, and she was about to fall, when he caught her hand. "You see?" Midnight blue eyes smiled into her own, with a golden warmth…  
  
She sat up with a gasp, panting. The bedroom around her came into sharp focus, and Luna regarded her with sleepy disinterest from the foot of the bed. She pressed a hand to her sweaty forehead. That dream again. . . but different, this time. I didn't scream, she thought, thinking of the last time she had the nightmare, when Darien had comforted her… she felt a little let down.  
  
Silently reprimanding herself for such a silly notion, she slipped out of bed, yawning and stretching. It was then she realized that she was still wearing her party dress, having slept in it. Moaning with regret, she inspected the damage. The poor thing was wrinkled beyond repair.  
  
Remorsefully, she pulled out her travel bag (repacked and moved into her-- well, Darien's-- room) and dug out a pair of flare jeans and a white baby- tee with a screened print of a chibi anime angel. She slipped them on and hung her once beautiful new dress over a chair with the mourning air of a funeral. Then she ran a hand over Luna, who had settled into the warm spot that Serena left in the bed, and went to see about some breakfast and coffee.  
  
She found Darien sitting in a chair that he had pulled up to the window of his living room, staring at the street below with an empty mug in his hand and a pensive expression on his face. He didn't seem to notice her presence, and she regarded his set, handsome features for a moment, admiring the way early sunlight touched his hair and played over his skin. Then she decided to leave him to his apparently absorbing thoughts and went into the kitchen. She felt a little awkward about what she would say to him, anyway.  
  
She paused and looked back at his outline. Remembered sensations rushed through her. His arms around her, his cheek on her hair, his hands stroking her face, his lips on hers… She blushed. But he didn't know that she knew he had kissed her. He had thought she was asleep. She shook her head. It probably didn't mean anything, anyway. It must have been one of those 'caught in the moment' things. . . I'd be naïve to think it was anything more. . . She sighed and turned away. Someone as experienced and smooth as Darien would never be interested in someone as silly and troublesome as me.  
  
With a decidedly dejected air, Serena poured herself some coffee and opened a cupboard to get some cereal. She knew that all Darien had was plain Cheerios, but they weren't bad if you put sugar on them… Then she did a double-take. Leaning forward, she inspected the cabinet one more time.  
  
Coming out of the kitchen, she stood in front of Darien with a hand on her hip and asked, accusingly, "Are you aware that there is absolutely no cereal in this house?"  
  
He didn't even look at her. "Oh. That's nice."  
  
"Nice?" Serena echoed indignantly. "Nice?! I'm hungry! What am I supposed to eat?"  
  
His eyes looked slightly glazed as he continued to stare down at the cars. "Mm hm," he said, absently.  
  
Serena balked. "Hello? Darien? Are you even listening to me?" She waved a hand in front of his sightless eyes. He started and turned to her as if realizing her presence for the first time.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry, Serena. Did you say something?"  
  
She regarded him with a worried expression. "Yeeesss," she said slowly, as if talking to a small child. "I asked what you expect me to eat for breakfast. There is no cereal, and no other food besides some beer in the fridge."  
  
He blinked. "Oh. Uh, sorry…guess I need to do some grocery shopping, huh?" He sighed and stood up, coming fully back to reality from whatever reprieve he had been absorbed in. Then he smiled. "Tell you what. There's a really great little bagel stand on Fourth Street. We can walk over and get some breakfast together."  
  
Suppressing her curiosity about what in the world he had been pondering as he studied the view, she agreed to what her stomach said was a very good idea.  
  
~----------~  
  
"Look, Darien, they're not afraid at all!"  
  
"Why should they be? They know you're going to feed them. Everyone knows pigeons have fool-proof sucker radar."  
  
Ignoring his little jab, Serena knelt on the sidewalk in front of the flock of noisy birds. She held out one hand, and they came right up for a piece of her bagel. Their bobbing heads watched her with bright eyes as little bits of toasted bread and cream cheese disappeared into their quick-jabbing beaks. Delighted, she looked up to grin at Darien. He had his arms crossed, and was shaking his head, but his eyes shone with amusement… and… something else? She couldn't tell, but maybe…she looked away quickly before he could sense her uncertainty. No, she wouldn't read anything into it. She just being silly, getting excited over pigeons and imagining things in Darien's eyes. Her heart clenched with an unexpected bitterness. She hated that about herself.  
  
With a sigh, she stood up and tossed the rest of the bagel to the birds. It instantly disappeared under a mass of flapping and cooing. Serena wrapped her arms around herself and started walking again.  
  
Why am I always such a child? How stupid, they're just dumb, fat birds who are overfed by silly dopes like me.  
  
Darien jogged a couple steps to catch up to her again. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, concerned at her abrupt mood change.  
  
"Nothing. I'm sorry. It's stupid, to get excited over some dumb birds." She couldn't meet his eye. What's the matter with me? It's not a big deal.  
  
He looked at her, full of remorse. "No, it's not. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make fun of you. I don't think it's stupid at all." He grinned and tapped her lightly on the nose. "Actually, I think it's pretty cute."  
  
She blushed and smiled with a sudden warmth. Then it faded as a thought came to her: Cute? Great, so I'm 'cute'--like a little sister.  
  
And sure enough, Darien continued, "You know, sometimes you remind me a little of Mina. You're so bright and full of life. Like even though bad stuff might happen to you, you can still let go and just be a little kid for a while. Life doesn't have to be complicated for you all the time." He smiled and pulled one of her hands away from her side. "I love that about you," he said, very softly, as he laced his fingers through hers.  
  
Serena felt her face heating again. She felt strange, sort of dizzy and warm. There was that something in his eyes again, that something that might be… She looked down at their intertwined fingers, at the linked hands swinging between them as they walked. She had to swallow hard to make sure she could speak normally.  
  
"I've…always hated that about myself. That I'm so childish. I always feel like a little kid, playing at being an adult," she whispered, not really sure why she was telling him.  
  
His fingers tightened on hers. "Don't feel like that. It's a gift, that vitality. Everywhere you go," he made a gesture with his free hand to encompass the city landscape around them, "you spread joy. You lighten people's hearts." He smiled down at her rosy cheeks. "And that's a gift that you should be glad of." Then he looked away, and his eyes were a little darker than usual. He added, almost under his breath, "The world needs all the sunshine it can get."  
  
Unconsciously, she squeezed his hand a little tighter. He looked down to their interlocked hands, then back up to her clear aquamarine eyes, full of concern. A small smile crept across his lips despite himself, and they walked a little way in silence, swinging their hands between them.  
  
~----------~  
  
"…and Andrew said, 'Whoa, dude, that's not *my* car!'"  
  
Bubbly laughter spilled out of Serena as she doubled over with hilarity. Darien laughed, too, delighted that she was delighted with his story. Finally, she managed to straighten up and wipe her eyes.  
  
"Oh god, Andrew is hopeless, isn't he?" she said, still grinning.  
  
Darien chuckled. "Yeah, well, what can I say? That's my best friend."  
  
Serena laughed again. "You really have some friends. First there's Ami, who never stops talking, and then there's Andrew, who can't stay out of trouble…the only normal one seems to be Sapphire, but his brother is just…creepy."  
  
Both quieted at the mention of Diamond. They walked another few steps before Darien came to an abrupt stop. Serena stopped too, puzzled.  
  
"What's wrong?" she asked.  
  
He was looking up at a big house in front of him. They had somehow ended up in the residential area just outside the city. Darien shook his head. "I don't know…for some reason, I've walked us over to Artemis' house…you know, my adoptive father. It's strange…I don't think I meant to…" He shook his head again. What in the world? Why would I take her here of all places. . .  
  
She took a second look at the house, with sparked interest. It was large and Victorian, with ornate latticework over the windows. The paint was a stately color of grayish-blue, edged with white trimming. It was well cared for, and the roses by the front walk were trimmed neatly. The overall effect was quite charming, and she found herself wishing she lived in such a beautiful house.  
  
Darien seemed embarrassed, and he put one hand behind his neck, rubbing it as though there were an ache there. "Uh, well…I guess we should go back to my apartment now…uh, it'll probably take us a couple hours to walk back, so we should get started, I guess…"  
  
Serena didn't want to go, but he looked so uncomfortable… she sighed and took one last, wistful look at the neat pink roses that lined the slate stepping-stone front path. "All right," she agreed quietly, and turned to go.  
  
But they had taken only a few steps when a small voice called out, tentatively, "Darien?" He froze, and turned around slowly. "Darien?!" the voice asked again, a little louder. "It is you!"  
  
Serena turned back as well, just in time to see a blond streak hurtling itself into Darien's arms. He laughed and scooped the small figure up, setting the little girl on his hip. She latched her arms tightly around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. "Darien, I missed you!" she exclaimed, in a happy little girl voice.  
  
He smiled and tapped her on the nose. "I missed you, too, Mina-mine."  
  
She giggled, then noticed Serena for the first time. Her laughter died, and she studied the stranger with wide, sky-blue eyes. Her arms tightened on Darien's neck, more a possessive action than a fearful one.  
  
Serena proceeded cautiously, sensing tension. "I'm Serena," she said, careful to use an open tone with no false brightness. "You must be Mina, my fellow lover of 'Lady and the Tramp,' " she continued, extending her hand.  
  
Wide and pure, the clear blue eyes bore steadily into her own, with an unwavering intensity. No smile appeared, and the young face was set in adult seriousness. Serena swallowed hard and found it hard to look away. For a moment, she was frozen, and silver depths swirled slowly deep within her, gently stirred by the blue gaze of the small girl's eyes. Then the sensation was abruptly gone, and Serena took a shaky breath, wondering what had just happened.  
  
Mina solemnly shook the extended hand, and smiled for the first time since seeing Serena. Her strange seriousness disappeared, and she became a bouncy little girl again.  
  
"I thought so," she ascertained brightly, "You are one of the special ones. Like Darien."  
  
Serena frowned slightly in puzzlement. "What do you mean, 'special ones'?"  
  
"Those who carry a--"  
  
"Okay Mina, Serena doesn't want to hear about that," Darien interrupted quickly. "Uh, let's, uh, go inside and see what Papa's doing, okay?"  
  
Both girls eyed him strangely.  
  
He quickly tried to recover, "Um, that is, unless you'd really rather go back, Serena… I just thought since we're here, and they're here, uh, I guess we should at least say hello."  
  
One of Serena's eyebrows quirked up. She could almost see sweat breaking out on Darien's brow. What was with him? Well, if he really insisted on her going inside his beautiful, charming, inviting and wonderful house, then why should she argue?  
  
"Alright," she agreed, "let's just go say hello."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	15. Ch. 14: The Legend

AN: Grab your popcorn, boys and girls, this is a long one…  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
I am who I am who I am  
  
Well who am I  
  
Requesting some enlightenment  
  
Could I have been anyone other than me?  
  
--John Alagia, "Dancing Nancies"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chapter Fourteen: The Legend  
  
I should have known better, Darien thought to himself, amused. There's no such thing as 'just saying hello' to Artemis.  
  
He watched over Mina's blond head (she had insisted on sitting on his lap, of course) as his adopted father's black eyes sparkled and his hands gestured excitedly. The man still retained all the enthusiasm he had showed hours ago, when Darien and Serena had first arrived at the house. There was no doubt about it, Artemis loved to talk, and he was very good at it. He was a master storyteller in his own right, really; the way he told a story, it was nigh on impossible to interrupt him or tune him out.  
  
However, Darien had years of experience on his side and something very involving to think about.  
  
Why did I bring her here?  
  
It was useless to keep asking himself. Especially because he already knew the answer. He had spent all of last night in a chair in front of his window, trying to figure out a way of making it not true. There didn't appear to be one.  
  
Why would I bring her here, to my family?  
  
Denial was useless. He knew the answer, for Christ's sake. It was simple. He should just admit it. He took a mental deep breath for courage.  
  
I love her.  
  
Simple, yes, but infinitely complicated.  
  
He sighed and rested his chin on Mina's blond head. Yes, he had fallen, deeply, madly, truly, and all those other corny things that love songs said, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that there wasn't anything that he could do. She was hiding out from the law, for heaven's sake! How much longer could he pretend ignorance of her true identity?  
  
Not that he wanted her to go, of course. He rather thought he might die if he lost her. Which was frightening, when he started to truly realize how precarious their situation was. If someone else found out who she was, they might turn her in, and then who knew what would happen to her. If she found out that he knew who she was, she would probably run away, for fear that he would turn her in.  
  
I would never do that! he thought desperately, as though she might somehow receive the silent message. I've got to get her to trust me, somehow. Otherwise, I'll lose her for sure. And that was a possibility to painful to bear, however probable it might be.  
  
"…Darien?"  
  
The sound of his name managed to penetrate his deep revere and pulled him back to the present with a jerk. He looked up, embarrassed to realize that the anecdote had been finished and now everyone was waiting for him to answer an unknown question.  
  
"Uh…I'm sorry, what did you say?" he asked, sheepishly.  
  
Artemis knowingly winked at him and repeated, "Well, it's a bit late and I'm sure we're all hungry, so perhaps our two special guests will stay for dinner. What do you say, Darien?"  
  
Not sure what to say, he looked uncertainly at Serena. Her beautiful eyes were shining eagerly, begging him to say yes. And how could he say no to her?  
  
"Sure, sounds good, Art."  
  
~------------~  
  
Serena sighed in contentment. She was full of the best beef stew that she had ever had, she got to watch Darien play with his little sister (incredibly cute), and, far from intimidating, Artemis was one of the most enjoyable men she had ever met.  
  
This is great, she thought happily. I love Darien's family. I wish I could come here all the time. A fantasy picture of herself coming over for dinner every Sunday on Darien's arm formed in her mind.  
  
She almost gasped out loud.  
  
Did I just think that? What does that mean? Worriedly, she tried to push away the uncomfortable feeling that she knew the answer.  
  
Thankfully, Artemis chose this moment to emerge from the kitchen, where he had been washing the dishes. Serena had tried to help, but he insisted on doing them himself. He sat down in a chair across from where she sat on the sofa, still carrying the wet dishcloth.  
  
"Well, now," he said, his black eyes twinkling at her, "since Darien's gone to get Mina into her pajamas, we can talk about him behind his back!" He winked conspiratorially at her and waggled his eyebrows exaggeratedly, making her laugh. Grinning, he continued, "So tell me, what do you think of my boy? Is he strong? Handsome? Kind? Trustworthy? Husband material? Or a complete goof?"  
  
Serena blushed furiously at the words 'husband material.' "Uh, uh, I…" she stammered awkwardly, having no idea what to say.  
  
"Come on now, you can tell me. It won't hurt my feelings if you say Darien's a…what's it you kids say nowadays? Oh yes, a 'total loser'?"  
  
"Hey now, are you talking bad about me behind my back, Art?" Darien's voice came from down the hall. Mina's giggle could be heard to follow.  
  
Artemis winked at Serena again and raised his voice to make sure that he could be heard in the other room. "Oh no, shhh, Serena, we don't want him to know all the horrible things you think about him!"  
  
Mina came running down the hall, wearing pajamas decorated with little hearts all over, with Darien following. She bounded into Artemis' lap, and Darien took a seat next to Serena on the couch.  
  
"Tell me a story!" she demanded of her father, bouncing up and down and obviously more than a little hyper.  
  
"Only if you say--"  
  
"Please!" she interrupted before he could finish his reprimand. He chuckled and asked what she wanted to hear.  
  
She seemed to calm down a little and looked right at Serena. Her eyes became strangely serious for a moment, as they had earlier in the day. "The Crystal Legend," she requested, not breaking eye contact. "I want to hear Serenity's story tonight."  
  
For some reason, a chill ran down Serena's spine.  
  
She felt Darien tense beside her and turned to him, worried. He did his best to cover it, but his hand clenched nervously on the seat as he said, "Ah, you sure about that, Mina? It's kinda long, isn't it? And Serena and I really should get going soon, it's dark outside already…"  
  
Artemis eyed his adopted son strangely. "It's not that long, and if it's what Mina wants to hear, why not let her? Anyway, I bet Serena would be really interested in hearing it, wouldn't you, Serena?"  
  
Feeling confused, she thought it best to reply semi-neutrally, "Well, ah, I guess…"  
  
Darien was becoming more agitated. Serena saw him swallow, and he seemed a little desperate as he countered, "But, ah, well…I just really don't think that's the kind of story Serena needs to hear…Actually, I think she really wouldn't enjoy it at all…it actually probably might harm her to hear it…"  
  
Artemis interrupted, annoyed, "What are you talking about? You're not making any sense. Anyway, if you don't want to hear the Legend again, you can go out of the room. You don't have to insult my storytelling with some kind of insensible excuse. Really, I'm surprised at you, Darien. Now, I'm going to tell the story that your little sister wants to hear, and anyone who can refrain from insulting me can stay to hear it."  
  
Darien sat back, trapped and defeated. Serena looked at him with concern. He discretely covered her hand with his own, and his eyes seemed to be begging her for something. The tenseness frightened her, but she could not think of what he was trying to tell her. His fingers tightened on her own. The silent message in his eyes was obviously urgent, but she couldn't see for the life of her what was so wrong with a bedtime story. She turned uneasily away from the midnight intensity of his gaze.  
  
Artemis cleared his throat and began, not waiting for any further interruptions.  
  
"In a time far removed from time, the first few of the chosen ones were born. At the same time, three vessels were forged in the very heart of the planet, carrying the sacred power of the life-force of Earth. These three vessels were the holy crystals, with the power to make true the desires of human hearts.  
  
"At first, the three vessels did not have owners, and they laid dormant, waiting for the ones who could control their power.  
  
"This is the story of the first carrier to awaken. Her name was Serenity."  
  
Another inexplicable chill ran down Serena's spine, and she shivered. Darien's hand pressed harder on her own.  
  
"Serenity was born the daughter of a noble house, and lived in great splendor all her life. She was very beautiful, with long silver-blond hair and eyes the color of the sea. She loved her beautiful old mansion with its sprawling fields and meadows; she loved her mother and father and all her family; she loved her way of life and all the beautiful things she owned; but, more than anything, she loved riding her horses. Or, rather, more specifically, she loved her horseback riding instructor, a handsome young man with black hair and deep blue eyes. Endymion (for that was his name) was not a nobleman or well-born, but he was quite charming and well- mannered, and Serenity's parents were loving and tolerant enough to approve of their daughter's desired match. He loved her as well, they were engaged, and all was really quite too perfect to last.  
  
"And it did not last more than three months. For after the third month of their engagement, Endymion began to fall rapidly from good health. His strength was greatly diminished in a frighteningly short matter of days. Serenity was beside herself with fear and would not leave his sickbed. She stayed with him, praying constantly, and watched helplessly as he slipped farther and farther away. Finally, one dark night when she was holding a lone candlelight vigil by his side, his terrible fever reached a crisis point. Again and again she washed his burning skin with cool water and changed cold cloths on his forehead, but nothing helped. He was soon panting in shallow, painful breaths, barely able to breathe. It was clear that the fever was killing him, and Serenity wept as she bathed his face.  
  
"Sensing that his end was near, Endymion gathered the last of his strength to try and comfort his beloved. Through his cracked and trembling lips, he breathed, 'Serenity, go on without me. You must live, my love.' Then his eyes rolled into his head, the lids closed over them, and he was still.  
  
"Serenity could not bear it and fell upon him, wild with grief. She begged him to awaken and cried hysterically upon his chest. With her head on his breast, she quieted suddenly, and listened with held breath. There was a very faint rhythm still there. It was as though within the confines of that faint beat, a voice was whispering to her. She drew in her breath and abruptly knew, without warning and without a doubt, that she could save him.  
  
"She stood up, and her long, pale hair flowed behind her in a nonexistent wind. Then the dainty noblewoman grew strong and terrible, and she gritted out between her teeth, 'I will not lose him. I cannot!' She held out her hand, and a silver stone dropped into it. She clenched her fist around it and knelt beside her beloved. 'My life for his,' she whispered, and silver light encased them both. Endymion's eyes came open again, and hers fluttered closed. She fell, unconscious, across him. He gasped in horror and shook her desperately.  
  
"'Serenity!' he cried. 'No! Do not leave me!' Then he felt the same terrible certainty that she had experienced, and he called a golden stone to his aid. He held its glow over her face and whispered tenderly, 'Ah, my love, you do not have to sacrifice yourself. It cannot be the wish of your heart to die. Now, wake up, and live!' Her eyes opened and she cried in joy to see his face. He embraced her tightly, and a mingling of silver and gold glowed around them.  
  
"And that was the awakening, and the beginning. For the crystals born of the power of Earth carry an enormous power: the ability to grant the deepest desire of a human heart. And Serenity and Endymion were not the only ones born through time who could use that power. After their deaths, they became one with the vessels that they had called forth, and live eternally within the stones, seeking the chosen ones born on the sacred lines.  
  
"The crystals still exist today, and somewhere out there, there are two carriers of the Silver and Gold Crystals, with the power to do anything, as long as they desire it with all their hearts."  
  
Artemis smiled at Mina on his lap. "There now, little one, are you satisfied?"  
  
The little girl nodded happily, kissed him on the cheek, and jumped down. She blew a kiss to Darien and let her eyes slide over Serena before going with her father to be put to bed, calling, "G'night, Darien, Serena," over her shoulder.  
  
Darien did not respond, as he was intently watching Serena for a reaction. His hand was tight on her own.  
  
"Serena…" he began, but trailed off uncertainly.  
  
She shook her head. She felt odd, disturbed somehow. That story…something about it was so familiar. But why? She pulled her hand from Darien's and stood up.  
  
"Excuse me, I have to use the restroom," she said faintly.  
  
Darien quickly stood up as well and caught her arm. His grip was tight, and his eyes desperate. "Wait, Serena, please…I need to tell you something," he pleaded. Serena put her free hand to her head, feeling dizzy, like there was an echo in her brain. She pulled her arm away.  
  
"In a minute, okay, Darien? I don't feel very well…"  
  
His eyes begged hers for a moment longer, but then he reluctantly let her go. She could feel his gaze burning into her back as she carefully made her way down the tilting hallway and shut the bathroom door. She paused a moment, then locked it.  
  
She ran some cold water and splashed her face with shaky fingers, then sat down on the closed lid of the commode, burying her face in a fuzzy blue towel from the rack. What is the matter with me? I feel so strange. Because of that story? Nausea rose sickeningly in her. She let out a small moan. Maybe something I ate? I feel awful. . .  
  
~*~Then why do you repress me?~*~  
  
Serena jerked upright. That voice was not her own. Desperately, she pushed her subconscious, where the voice originated from, farther away from her mind. A stronger wave of nausea overtook her.  
  
~*~You see? Why do you push me away? I can help you.~*~  
  
She shook her head violently, trying to silence the voice.  
  
~*~No? You do not need help? You understand everything and can handle it on your own? Who you are? What you are doing?~*~  
  
Serena took a deep breath and, feeling insane, whispered, "Who *I *am? Who are *you?* Am I going crazy?"  
  
Now that she was not fighting to repress it, her subconscious produced a floating image of a beautiful lady with long silver hair tied into Serena's own twin buns. The lady smiled, and in a flash, the nausea and dizziness were gone. Serena's head cleared, and the image came into sharper focus.  
  
The figure gave a small chuckle. ~*~Who am I? I think you know.~*~  
  
Serena's eyes grew wide with sudden understanding, and she gasped into the towel. "No, it can't be…but that hair…and those eyes, those are my eyes…" she whispered unbelievingly.  
  
Serenity smiled.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	16. Ch. 15: Running

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
My heart calls to me in my sleep  
  
How can I turn to it  
  
'Cause I'm all locked up in this Dark place…  
  
My head won't leave my head alone  
  
--Dave Matthews Band, "Rhyme & Reason"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chapter Fifteen: Running  
  
She shut the bathroom door as quietly as possible, but Darien jumped at the small noise and spun quickly from his pacing. He sighed with relief to see her.  
  
"Serena, you're…I… Listen, I wanted to say…" he haltingly tried to begin, but Serena cut him off.  
  
"Actually, Darien, I'm really not feeling all that well, and I think I'd just like to go home right now." She wasn't meeting his eyes.  
  
Darien looked at her worriedly. "But, Serena…it's dark outside, and we didn't bring the car…unless you want to walk home in the dark, or maybe Artemis could drive us, but then he'd know where you're staying. Don't you think maybe it'd be better if…well, if we stayed…here?" He held his breath. If I can just keep her here, in Artemis' house, then I'll have a chance to explain everything and see how she reacts. Because she's got to realize it now…after hearing the story, surely she knows…  
  
He watched anxiously as she crossed the room, arms folded tightly over her chest. She stood at the window, but looked down at the carpet instead of out at the night. She was quiet for so long that Darien hesitantly took a step toward her. Then she sighed, and he froze.  
  
"Well… I suppose. Whatever you think is best, Darien. But, I really don't feel well at all. I think…I think I should go to bed. Yeah, I'm very tired."  
  
Darien's brow wrinkled. Maybe she really doesn't feel well…she doesn't look so good, actually. My poor Serena… He reached out and laid his hand gently on her shoulder, concerned. "All right, you can probably sleep in the guest room. You'll feel better once you lie down. I'll show you where the room is now, if you want," he softly offered, rubbing his thumb comfortingly over her skin.  
  
She jerked out from under his touch. "Thanks, I'll find it myself," she muttered dismissively, escaping the room.  
  
Darien stood still, a sudden, sharp pain stinging through his chest. What was that? She didn't want him to touch her or comfort her? But, Serena…if you know now…if you've realized…who you are…then…  
  
He sunk into the chair that Artemis had occupied for the course of the story. His fist closed on the little velvet bag in his pocket, feeling the hard, round object within. Then…why don't you know who I am?  
  
Artemis chose this moment to resurface from his daughter's room. He grinned and winked at Darien with a finger to his lips, indicating that Mina was asleep. Then he frowned and looked around. "Where's Serena?" he inquired curiously.  
  
Darien sighed deeply. "She didn't feel well. I told her she could stay in the guest room overnight," he dejectedly explained.  
  
Artemis' frown deepened, pulling wrinkles across his face. "Didn't feel well, you say? Hmm…I hope it wasn't my beef stew!"  
  
"No," Darien said wearily, in no mood for pretending optimism, "It wasn't the beef stew." His grip tightened on the stone in his pocket. Oh, Serena…Why can't you see? Why don't you know…and trust me?  
  
~----------~  
  
Serena turned sharply in the little aisle of clear floor space and continued her death march, intently focused on keeping the voice silent so she could think.  
  
Okay, so Serenity's in my head, and she's trying to tell me what to do. That's okay. It doesn't necessarily mean I'm crazy. After all, I'm sure there's plenty of nice people in the world who hallucinate things after they hear stories.  
  
She reached the other wall of the small bedroom and turned around again.  
  
All right Serena, stop dancing around the issue, she berated herself. Crazy or not, there are some definite weird coincidences going on here. So it's up to me, Super Sleuth Serena, to figure them out!  
  
That was so cheesy she actually stopped pacing and shook her head at her own demented brain. Then she turned and resumed the march.  
  
Let's see…Okay, Darien's father--well, almost-father-- knows a story that has to do with these things called crystals, one silver and one golden. The crystals have the power to grant the desires of those who can control them.  
  
So-- Coincidence Number One: I have a silver, crystalline stone that I inherited from Grandmother Leita. Ever since I have had it, I have been able to cause things to happen whenever I get worked up about something.  
  
Her pacing picked up speed, and one hand found its way to her locket.  
  
The Silver Crystal from the legend and my wishstone…maybe…the same thing?  
  
She sat down heavily on the edge of the bed.  
  
But how is that possible? The crystals…they're just a bedtime story. Right?  
  
Suddenly, she wasn't so sure.  
  
But…but…if it is true…then…that means the voice really is Serenity, and I'm one of the chosen ones on the sacred line, like Artemis said. But that…that's just so unbelievable.  
  
~*~Ah, but it is true. Listen, my child-- ~*~  
  
Serena gasped and clamped her control back down quickly.  
  
The last thing I need is you trying to confuse me. I can figure this out by myself, thank you very much, she thought furiously at her now-silent subconscious.  
  
She stood up and resumed her pacing, feeling restless.  
  
Okay, so let's take an assessment. Conclusion Number One: Assuming that the legend is true, I most likely am the carrier of the Silver Crystal, and the voice in my head is probably Serenity trying to guide me from beyond the grave. She shivered. God, that's creepy. Wishstone crystals and ghosts that live in my brain. I'm definitely gonna end up in the loony bin.  
  
Sighing, she turned for another lap of the guest bed.  
  
All right, now that we got that sort-of straightened out, lets move on to Number One Thing Serena is Trying Not to Think About: Darien.  
  
She stopped at the window and looked out at the quiet yard. The moon was full and bright that night. Just like…last night… She shook her head violently to clear it of the dreamy images starting to creep in.  
  
Focus, Serena. He didn't want me to hear the story…because he knew that I would figure out who I am? But…that would mean…  
  
She gripped the window edge tightly, struck with a horrible realization.  
  
That would mean…  
  
No, he would have said something before now. It couldn't be.  
  
That…would mean…  
  
No, it just wasn't possible. She would have known. He would have done something.  
  
…he knows who I am.  
  
She sank slowly to the floor, her back against the wall under the window.  
  
But…no…it's not possible…I was careful…I destroyed that newspaper…How could he have found out? How could this have happened?  
  
She clutched at her locket desperately, trying to think of a way it could be not true.  
  
He must have figured it out…Darien's not stupid, that I know. He must know… everything…the Tsukinos…Sammy…the hospital…I'm a wanted woman, on the run from the law. And Darien knows who I am…  
  
~*~But he has not turned you in yet, has he? Listen to me, you have got to trust him or-- ~*~  
  
Quiet! she screamed silently at the voice, once again clamping down her slipping control. She took a deep breath. If there's one thing I've learned in all my years in foster care, it's this: Trust is a weakness. The only person you can rely on is yourself because everyone else will let you down. When it's really important, you can't trust anyone else. I think my freedom is pretty important, don't you?  
  
A very small voice within her, one that was not Serenity's, said quietly, But this is Darien, and you love him.  
  
Serena's fist tightened convulsively around the locket. She could feel the design being pressed into her skin. A funny little ache ran through her heart, but she had made up her mind resolutely.  
  
It doesn't matter. Trust is a weakness. I can't afford to be weak now. I'm on my own.  
  
She stood up and looked again at the window, this time really *at* it, not through to the outside. The bedroom was ground-floor and the window was perhaps three feet from the ground. Some rose bushes grew under it, but there was enough space for a person to fit between them and the house. The latch was on the inside.  
  
Serena took a deep breath. Now, Serena. Time to be strong, for once in your life. Time to control your own destiny. Do you want to go back to Mrs. Rei's office, or maybe to jail? Or do you want to be your own person and show the world that you really are strong enough to make it on your own?  
  
With grim resolve, she answered her own question and reached out to turn the latch.  
  
~----------~  
  
Panting with exertion, Diamond rested on her for a moment, luxuriating in the feel of sweaty skin and his release. Then he withdrew slowly and rolled over.  
  
He could not resist a small chuckle. Very satisfying. Oh, yes, very satisfying indeed, if only a consolation prize. No matter, Diamond never slept alone, and he would soon get the one he really wanted. In the meantime, there were always other…diversions.  
  
He felt her cuddle up to his side, practically purring. He smiled. Cuddling after sex…what a revolting concept. But now…now came his favorite part.  
  
Diamond drew a silky strand of auburn hair through his fingers, inhaling the scent of hazelnut. Women and their smelly hair stuff. With an unexpected thrill of excitement, he wondered what *her* scent was. Perhaps…honeysuckle…or lavender… Ah, but he would know in due time. Now was the time to savor the moment at hand.  
  
He chuckled again and jerked his black presence as roughly as possible from her mind. He always found that the more abrupt, the better the effect. "Mmm…very good, my little pet. But you may leave now. I've no more use for you."  
  
He felt her stiffen suddenly and jerk away from him. She sat up quickly, grabbing sheets to her naked breasts. He grinned satisfactorily at her horrified, humiliated expression. Ah yes, this was the best part.  
  
She sputtered unintelligibly before managing to spit furiously, "You beast, how could you!"  
  
He easily turned aside her attempt at hitting him with a flick of his black power. He grinned wider and replied flippantly, "Very easily, I'm afraid. Really, I'm surprised you're upset, Beryl. After all, a whore like you ought to appreciate a good fucking."  
  
Her face trembled in rage, but she didn't try to hit him again. He watched languidly as she extracted herself from the tangle of sheets and dressed as dignifiedly as possible. They always tried to maintain a shred of dignity. It was really quite amusing how they were all the same.  
  
She stalked to the door of his apartment and turned back to where he lay still stretched out on the bed, completely unashamed of his nakedness. Her lip trembling with a mix of emotions, she ground out, "Mark my words, Diamond, you *will* be sorry for this, you… you… incredible bastard asshole man-whore!" The door slammed behind her, shaking the walls of the small space.  
  
Diamond chuckled to himself, reaching to the nightstand to pour himself some wine. Really, it had been quite ingenious of him to rent this place. It would never do to have his father's mansion shook so, and hotel rooms got so expensive.  
  
Feeling quite satisfied with himself, he sipped his wine. There was only one prick in his self-pride, only one tiny failure that he had endured. And of course, he assured himself with a nasty little smirk, that would be remedied soon enough.  
  
He raised his glass in a toast to the now empty room. "Here's to you, lovely Serena."  
  
~----------~  
  
Serena knelt in front of the door, squinting in the dark hallway to see the lock on Darien's apartment door. She cast a furtive look in both directions over her shoulder to make sure no one was there to see her pulling a hairpin from her pocket. She was fairly sure that it wouldn't look too good if someone found her here, trying to pick the lock. She had looked around for surveillance cameras, but hadn't seen any. As she jiggled the hairpin as quietly as possible and prayed for it to work, she fervently hoped that the fact that she didn't see them meant that they weren't there.  
  
Of course, she had considered just running and leaving Luna and everything else behind… but she remembered all too well what had happened the last time she had left unprepared. She needed food and supplies…and she had no money. Besides, she was already on the run from the law, right? One little break-in wasn't so much worse than destroying thousands of dollars' worth of sophisticated hospital equipment.  
  
She heard the miraculous click of the releasing lock and stifled a disbelieving shout of joy. Quietly, she slipped though the door and pushed it back into its frame. The lock clicked again as it slid back into place. She flinched at the little noise, magnified by fear and deathly silence.  
  
The apartment was dark and seemed wholly alien, despite the fact that she had spent most of the past three days inside it. Moonlight shone through Darien's big picture window and cast an eerie sort of dim glow on the green and white striped rug. Serena moved quietly around the furniture, her eyes having adjusted to the semi-darkness. She planned to secure her traveling bag, her cat, and some survival necessities, and then get out as smoothly as possible. The less time here, the better. After all, the less time here, the less time she had to think about the fact that she was actually leaving.  
  
She ran a hand along the wall to guide her down the considerably darker hallway until she reached the doorway of the room where she had slept for the past three nights. She paused for a moment in the threshold, then shook off the irrational sentimentality that had overtaken her and entered.  
  
Luna was curled up on the bed, and lifted her head from where it rested on her paws to blink sleepily at Serena. The cat came fully awake and sprang up, alert. Serena gathered her bag up quickly, feeling reproachful blue eyes watching her in the darkness.  
  
"Come on, Luna," she whispered, gently scooping the cat into her bag, lashing tail and all, "there's a good kitty." Luna's round blue eyes were bright against the black of the dark and her coat. The little crescent moon on her forehead seemed to burn, and Serena could almost hear the cat thinking at her, ~*~This is not a good idea.~*~  
  
Not the cat---Serenity, she realized suddenly, and pushed down harder on the unwanted presence. She left the room quickly, leaving her dress draped over the chair, trying not to remember any of the events of last night, especially when Darien had…  
  
She went to the kitchen and opened half the cabinets before she remembered that the whole reason she and Darien had left that morning had been because there was no food in the apartment. She swore into the silence. Now what?  
  
Slowly she wandered out of the little space and into Darien's living room. Indeed, now what? She couldn't starve herself again. Aimlessly, she walked through the apartment, as though hoping for some kind of inspiration. Perhaps…if she could find some money… but no, rob Darien? Somehow taking money seemed much worse than taking food.  
  
Somewhere far off down the hall outside, a door slammed shut. Serena tensed in sudden fear and held still as a frightened rabbit, ready to bolt. Footsteps treaded heavily past the door. Serena's heart nearly left her chest, but they passed by without pause. A full minute after all had fallen silent once more, she finally released her breath.  
  
Shaking with the after-effects of the adrenaline rush, she came to a quick decision. She would just have to do without. The longer she stayed here, the more the risk grew.  
  
She made a final quick sweep of the apartment, looking for anything she might have forgotten. In the TV room, she knelt to retrieve an umbrella that was propped against the wall (for she had no desire to repeat the misery of her previous flight through the rain) and straightened again to find herself looking into Darien's beautiful eyes.  
  
It was only the picture of Darien and Mina that hung on the wall, but her heart gave a mighty wrench. His familiar features were clear in the darkness; his dark eyes seemed to be begging her for something. As clear as though he were standing right next to her, she heard the question, rending her in two: How can you leave? Serena gasped a little against the painful squeezing in her chest.  
  
Can I really leave him? I'll never see him again.  
  
Never…see…again… Those words sounded like death.  
  
She steeled herself and dragged her eyes away from his pleading face. A little part of her was crying, sobbing hysterically and begging her to turn back. She stifled the tears that threatened to break through to her outer self and began to walk away.  
  
I love him, I love him! I'll die if I can't be with him! the little self inside cried.  
  
"What a stupid thing to say. Of course I won't die," she hissed fiercely back at it, striding quickly now with the bag, the cat, and the umbrella to the door. A tear trickled down her cheek as she softly pushed the door closed behind her. She wiped it quickly away.  
  
I'll be fine. I am strong enough to do this, she told herself firmly.  
  
But the little self had dissolved into quiet, desperate sobs, and wasn't listening anymore.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	17. Ch. 16: Twisted Lady Luck

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Bereaved of all, I went abroad,  
  
No less bereaved to be  
  
Upon a new peninsula…  
  
--Emily Dickinson, Collected Poems, Time and Eternity CXI  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Chapter Sixteen: Twisted Lady Luck  
  
Darien wasn't quite sure if it was the *worst* moment in his whole life, but it definitely ranked up there. Because the feeling in the pit of his stomach when he opened the guest room door and found an empty bed and an open window most certainly did not qualify as remotely pleasant.  
  
When he had managed to gather up enough of his wits through the despair and desperation that briefly overtook him, he sprang into action, muttering silently to himself, It's a damn good thing I love her, or I'd kill her with my bare hands. How could she be so stupid? Running away was a very dangerous game. Hadn't she learned that before? If he hadn't found her that time… But he had. And he must find her again, this time.  
  
It's also a damn good thing I couldn't sleep last night for worrying, or I wouldn't have gotten up so early and there'd be some major explaining to do for Artemis. As it was, it was 4:00 in the morning, no one else was even thinking of leaving dreamland yet, and Darien scrawled a quick, lying and reassuring note and left the house.  
  
He jogged past the neighborhood that he had spent the latter part of his childhood growing up in, cursing with every pound of his feet on the ground. How could she have done this to him? Why, why, *why* wouldn't she trust him? *How* could she not have figured out who he was and why he could never betray her? He had shown her his crystal, just the other night, in fact. His was golden, hers was silver. It wasn't that hard to put two and two together and figure out that as her ancestor had been Serenity, his had been her beloved Endymion. Darien had long ago figured out what the connection between his father's golden crystal and Artemis' story was. And the awakening of Endymion within him had confirmed the then twelve-year-old boy's suspicions. Even now, he felt the presence inside, spurring him on to find the woman they both loved.  
  
So you see, Serena, he thought desperately, as though she might hear him, we are meant to be together. You can't run away from me. You just can't.  
  
~----------~  
  
It began to drizzle, and Serena smugly put up the umbrella over herself and the cat.  
  
"Ha, you see, Luna? No getting soaking wet for us this time!" she said cheerfully, not caring if passing pedestrians thought she was a lunatic. Anyway, false cheerfulness was the only thin barrier she had left between herself and collapse. Artemis' beef stew had faded from her stomach long ago, leaving it very empty, and she had been too afraid of the dark city streets to find a place to lie down and sleep last night. Not to mention the fact that she was hopelessly lost and likely wandering around in circles.  
  
But she cheerfully continued in her circle, not knowing what else to do. Her legs trembled with exhaustion and threatened suddenly to give out beneath her. She quickly steadied herself and re-thank her position. Perhaps circles were not a good thing. Perhaps she should take a chance and ask someone to tell her how to get out of the circle and Somewhere Else where she could start trying to Make It On Her Own.  
  
Her legs shook again and decided her. She chose a nice-looking lady with frizzy hair who was sitting on some stairs and looking down intently at her watch.  
  
Serena approached cautiously and, wondering if she was making a mistake, stammered, "Um, I'm very sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you could perhaps tell me how to get…uh, well…how to get…just out of the city, I guess," for Serena had no specific destination in mind.  
  
The woman looked up with wild, shifty eyes. "Out of the city? Out? I've been trying…many years, yes…trying to get away. Trying to get out. You wanna get out, too, girly?"  
  
Luna made a small hissing noise, and Serena realized sickly that she *had* made a mistake, that something was not right with this woman. Something in her eyes…there was something wrong.  
  
"Um, no actually, that's all right, thank you very much, ma'am, I'll just be going now," she stuttered, backing away, but not quickly enough. The woman's eyes turned crafty and fixed on Serena's bag.  
  
"What'cha got in the bag, girly? Hmm? Gots a kitty? Gots a kitty in the bag?" The eyes sharpened and her hand shot out in a quick movement to grab the ragged canvas. "Gots *money* in the bag, girly?" she hissed close in Serena's ear.  
  
Heart pounding, Serena tried to jerk the bag back. "No, no money. I don't have anything!" she insisted fearfully.  
  
But one of the horrible eyes started to twitch, and the grip on the bag was tight and unyielding. "You lie. Give me it! Give me the money! I want to get out more than you, I deserve it more!" With more strength than a tired and hungry Serena could match, the bag was ripped from her. Will no one help me? she thought desperately, and Luna's indignant yowl was the last thing she heard before blacking out under a hard blow to the head.  
  
~----------~  
  
Diamond woke up slowly under the grip of his usual morning hangover. Groaning at the throbbing pain in his temples, he reached for the wine on the nightstand, not bothering to pour a glass, just swigging some down. After a little more wine and the coldest shower that he could stand, he felt a bit better.  
  
He got out of the shower and padded into the kitchen with nothing but a small towel wrapped around his waist. He liked his body and felt it was a shame to have to cover it up all the time. Cold pork chops (he paid a woman to keep the refrigerator stocked) and some more wine served as breakfast, and then he reluctantly got dressed.  
  
Once again he admired his own ingenuity in acquiring this place. He loved the feeling of being discreet, of having his doings unknown by the other members of his family. And of course, though the mansion was beautiful and fitting for one as wealthy as he, a man his age required his own space where he could do as he pleased. Perhaps the apartment was no mansion, but it was spacious, well-decorated, and the best his money could buy, and he kept it in good order. Or rather, the maid he had hired kept it in order; a man of Diamond's stature should never have to clean up after his messes.  
  
Feeling happy with last night's success, his own status, and the world in general, Diamond gathered up his coat, locked the door behind him, and descended the stairs to go boss around some people at Darmoon International.  
  
But thanks to glorious Lady Luck, who smiled graciously upon Diamond that day, he never made it to work. For lying at the bottom of his building's front steps, a torn bag and several articles of clothing strewn about her, was the one thing he coveted most.  
  
"Serena," he breathed, hardly daring to believe his fortune. He knelt and touched her cheek with a trembling finger. She was solid. She was real. He grinned the widest grin of his life, full of malicious pleasure.  
  
"Diamond always gets what Diamond wants," he sang softly, something Sapphire had been fond of saying in jest in their youth. But how very, wonderfully true it was! Here was the proof.  
  
Chuckling, he reached down to claim his prize, when a sudden black streak hurtled itself at his face from the shadows under the stairs. He heard an animal shrieking and felt the sharp scratch of claws tearing into his cheek. Howling with rage, he grabbed the furry body and flung it away as hard as he could. The black cat, as he could now see it was, hit the pavement jarringly. The creature valiantly managed to pull itself upright, but did not advance again. It stood braced with all its fur on end, a tiny puffball hissing ferociously for all it was worth. Diamond would have laughed if he had not been so furious about his torn cheek.  
  
He managed to quell his anger enough to carefully gather up the girl and her belongings and gently carry her up the stairs. The cat remained at the bottom, now sending singsong, wailing warnings after him. He ignored it. The stupid cat was not important. Serena was.  
  
He looked down at her unconscious face, resting against his white, collared work shirt. He well remembered how she had resisted his last advance. The thing would have to be done delicately. It would require every ounce of charm and persuasion he had.  
  
Despite the sting in his bloody cheek, Diamond smiled. More than anything, he loved a challenge.  
  
~----------~  
  
Darien reached his apartment building at last, but he had to lean on the stair-post outside a moment to catch his breath before he could manage to climb up. He had jogged the entire way, not daring to waste any more time than was absolutely necessary. It was as though if he could only hurry fast enough, it would cancel out the fact that she had a whole night's lead on him. If only he ran as hard as he could, then she would be there when he opened his apartment door.  
  
But of course, Time does not reward effort and instead obeys only cruel logic, and his apartment was empty. Serena had taken the cat and her belongings and left. The emergency money he kept at the bottom of a dresser drawer was still there, and he cursed that she had not taken it. He would gladly have let her have it. She needed it, needed everything that she could get. He couldn't bear the thought of her wandering through the city, starving and all alone.  
  
The sight of her beautiful party dress draped forlornly over a chair, the lone abandoned remainder of her, was enough to break his heart. He sank to his knees and took up the silky fabric in his hands, inhaling the scent of her that still clung to it. How could she be gone? She had become everything to him in such a short time… It wasn't fair. How could he be allowed just three days with the only woman he had ever loved? Every once of his strength was required to hold back sobs, but nothing could be done about the tears that slipped down his cheeks. He buried them in the soft blue material, the same blue as her beautiful eyes.  
  
Life respectfully let him sit alone with his grief for a moment before it continued with the flow of events. But continue they must at some point, and when the doorbell rang rudely into the silence, he dried his tears and rose to answer it.  
  
The very last person Darien ever expected to see again was standing on his doorstep, looking extremely uncharacteristically fragile, as though she might fall apart at any moment.  
  
"Beryl?!" he gasped, disbelieving.  
  
"Please," she said, choking on humiliation, "I'm sorry, but I didn't have anywhere else to go."  
  
Stunned, he opened the door wider, and his hated seductress came in, clutching a fur coat protectively about her. She stood awkwardly with him in the tiny foyer, looking so miserable that he actually felt sorry for her.  
  
"What's wrong, Beryl?" he asked, with the most tenderness that he had ever used toward her. It was enough to shatter her fragile supports and cause her to totally break down.  
  
"Darien," she cried, sobbing and falling forward into his chest, "Oh, Darien, I've… I've been raped!" The last was spoken in a horrified whisper.  
  
"Raped?" Darien repeated softly, his stomach sinking. He gently bore her to the green sofa in his living room and set her down. He sat in the recliner across from her and did his best to put Serena and his own trouble from his mind. Darien was a kind person, and here was someone who desperately needed his help. It didn't matter that Beryl had been a generally undeserving person in the past. She was a victim, and she had come to him.  
  
"What happened?" he asked quietly, soothingly.  
  
Beryl took a deep and shaky breath. It was clear that this was not where she wanted to be, and quite painful for her, to open up to a man who had shunned her. But she had nowhere else, as she had said, and so she began, very quietly.  
  
"I… I was at the Darmoon mansion with Emerald. We had been shopping. She bought me this coat," and Beryl pulled the furs tighter around herself. "Diamond came home. He seemed restless. He watched us for a while, or rather, he watched me, prancing about in my new coat like the fool I am. He was smiling."  
  
Beryl paused. "The next part is hard to explain. When I looked into his eyes, with him smiling at me like that, I felt…I felt…well, sort of like a black smoke, curling into my mind. I know it sounds strange; I can't really describe it. Anyway, I began to think in a whole new way about Diamond. I never really had paid attention to him before, but now it was like I couldn't think about anything else. I noticed all these little things about him that I had never seen, like how attractive he seemed then."  
  
Beryl faltered a little. "I…I don't remember exactly how…but I left with him, and he took me to this place…his apartment. He gave me wine…a lot of wine. And…and… we… had sex." She swallowed hard. "But when it was over, the blackness in my mind was jerked back out, and all of a sudden I was myself again. Oh, Darien, I can never explain to you how incredibly awful it was, to suddenly realize what it was that had just happened. What I had been doing, that I did not want to do."  
  
Ah, but Darien did know how she had felt. He supposed it was something akin to how he had felt when he woke up the day after that awful party where he had met Beryl, with a strange girl in his arms and his virginity lost forever.  
  
But Beryl was continuing, "I got out of there as fast as I could. His cruel laughter followed me out the door and haunted me through all the streets. I didn't go home. I didn't go anywhere. I just wandered around, in a kind of numbed daze. And then I found myself outside your apartment building. And I knew I had to come up."  
  
Her gaze fell steadfastly on her fingers, gripped tightly in the fur coat. Her voice was barely a whisper. "Because the worst thing…the worst thing is…I'm no better than he is. Because what I did to you…was the same as what he did to me. And that's why I came. To say that I understand now that it's not a game. Not when you're on the receiving end. And…I'm sorry." She choked on a quiet sob. "More sorry than I've ever been in my life."  
  
Darien stood up and enfolded her in a comforting hug. She clutched at his shirt and shook with sobs of exhaustion and overwrought emotion. "It's okay," he said, and it was. Amazingly, it really was. Grudges were petty things, and forgiveness was something that he found came easily to suffering and true regret.  
  
"I'll make some tea," he said after a moment, and she giggled insanely at the absurdity of it all.  
  
Miraculously, he actually did have some tea bags, and the hot, calming beverage did wonders for Beryl's near-hysterical state.  
  
She sipped at her mug (he didn't have any teacups) and cast about for something to say, embarrassed at having shown such weakness. "So… where's Serena?"  
  
Darien sat down heavily with his own steaming mug, staring glumly into its amber depths as the weight of his own problem thudded down across his shoulders once more. "I don't know," he answered truthfully. "She ran away."  
  
"Ran away? Well, that was really stupid of her," Beryl said, a little of her normal personality resurfacing. "You know, Darien, you ought to be really worried about her."  
  
Darien just looked at her. Wasn't it obvious that he was worried sick about Serena?  
  
"No, I mean *really* worried, because I think she's in real danger if Diamond finds her. He…he wants her. Like he took me, only he wants her much, much more. It's like an obsession. When he was…with me, it was her name he called."  
  
Darien shivered with foreboding, remembering something Diamond had said at the party… 'Such a delicious little thing… Have you fucked her yet, or shall I be the first to ride her when I corner her?'  
  
Feeling barely suppressed panic rising within him, he asked anxiously, "Beryl, do you remember where exactly Diamond's apartment is?"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	18. Ch. 17: Rabbit in a Trap

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What fortitude the soul contains,  
  
That it can so endure  
  
The accent of a coming foot,  
  
The opening of a door!  
  
--Emily Dickinson, Collected Poems, Love IV ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chapter Seventeen: Rabbit in a Trap  
  
~*~You have got to stop ignoring and suppressing me. Why do you not understand? I am here to help you. And now look what has happened,~*~ Serenity's voice floated unrestrained in the blackness.  
  
What *has* happened? Serena wondered groggily, drifting pleasantly in the black space of unconsciousness.  
  
~*~Wake up, and you will see.~*~  
  
She did not want to leave the black space. It was peaceful there, far away from brightness or pain. But despite her efforts to remain unaware, she was slowly, inexorably drifting up to the light, up to consciousness and a dull throbbing in the base of her head.  
  
~*~Come on now, little one. Your stubbornness has led you into danger. Wake up, and I shall try to help you get out of it.~*~  
  
She let her eyes slit open, and soft yellow light streamed through into her dim brain. She blinked and sat up to take in her surroundings.  
  
She was lying on a plump and cushy crushed velvet sofa, a tasteful shade of champagne. The carpet was the same color. A glass coffee table with gold- gilt lion's-claw-and-ball feet was strewn with scattered pages of the Wall Street Journal. Classic artwork hung on the walls in gold frames. The entire atmosphere radiated wealth and interior decorating.  
  
"What in the world." she whispered, unable to fathom how she had ended up in such a ritzy place. The last thing she remembered.was the crazy lady who had hit her on the head and taken her bag. Luna! she thought, suddenly in a panic. Where was her cat? Had the woman taken her? Was she all right? Had she been hurt?  
  
Serena struggled with the enveloping softness of the sofa cushions, but it was no good. She was sunk too deeply to extract herself. Panic began to rise more quickly, choking her. Where the hell am I? How the hell did I get here? Where is Luna? What's happening? Too many questions with no answers! She flailed her arms wildly, trying to release herself from the soft imprisonment of cushions.  
  
"Hey now, easy there!" an amused and calm voice came from somewhere behind the sofa's back. Serena twisted her head, but couldn't see the speaker. She could hear footsteps coming closer, though, and the voice came again, "Just hold still now and I'll help you sit up."  
  
That's funny, Serena thought, I feel like I recognize that voice. like false warmth with an edge of ice. Her breath stilled for a moment. Oh, but no, it couldn't be.  
  
A strong arm gently helped her into a sitting position, and a figure knelt beside her. Serena hardly dared look, but of course she must.  
  
The face was crinkled into a warm smile, but the features were sharp and hawkish, and the eyes were the palest, iciest shade of blue she had ever seen.  
  
Oh shit, it's Diamond. The edge of panic began to slip from Serena's grasp. Oh shit, Oh shit.what do I do?  
  
He kept smiling and reached out to tenderly touch the sore spot on her head. She did her best not to jerk away. "How's the head?" he asked, still using an easy, friendly manner.  
  
"F-fine," she lied, badly. Her wits seemed to have leaked out through the bruise in her skull. She decided that this was no time to be stubborn about figuring things out on her own.  
  
Serenity, please, you've got to help me!  
  
Diamond chuckled. "No, it's not fine, I can tell. But I'll get you some wine. That will make you feel better."  
  
~*~Oh, so now suddenly I am not such an unwanted presence after all?~*~ Serenity was miffed.  
  
Serena groaned inwardly. Oh, please, this is not exactly an ideal time for nursing hurt feelings.please, please, I'm very sorry, just help me now, please! I need you! Out loud, she tried to be more convincing as she said, "Oh, no, really, I'm fine. I don't feel any pain at all. I was just so startled to see you at first." She managed to summon a pretty smile for Diamond's benefit.  
  
But he was not to be dissuaded. "I'll get some wine anyway, just to be sure. Head injuries are pretty serious. Maybe you ought to lie back down, too," he called over his shoulder as he moved into another room.  
  
Serenity, please! Help me! she shrieked silently. What do I do?!  
  
~*~All right, all right. Just stay calm. I will help you. You can handle this.~*~  
  
But how? How did I get here? How did he get me here?  
  
~*~You were knocked unconscious. He must have carried you. Now calm down and think, Serena. Do you remember at the party? The black force he pushed into your mind? You are alone with him. He will try that again, and you must be ready for him. Do not take any wine. It will make your defenses weaker. And where is the silver crystal?~*~  
  
With a sickening lurch of her stomach, Serena realized that the locket was not around her neck.  
  
~*~He must have taken it. You will have to get it back, or you stand no chance at all.~*~  
  
But how do I do that? she begged, desperately.  
  
~*~I do not know.~*~  
  
Diamond came back, bearing two goblets and an opened bottle. "There we are," he said cheerfully, and poured an inch of ruby liquid into each. He handed one to Serena. "Come on now, down the hatch. It will make you feel much better, I promise," he prompted when she did not reach to take it. Reluctantly, she accepted the glass and brought it to her lips, but did not part them. She hoped he wouldn't notice that she wasn't actually drinking any alcohol.  
  
He settled himself in a majestic wing-backed leather chair across the coffee table from her, draping his arms over the sides, swirling his wine languidly and looking like a king on his royal throne. His pale eyes studied her. "What's wrong?" he asked mildly. "You look a little shaken up."  
  
"Um.I was just, uh, wondering." Her head was addled, and no good words would come to her. "Um.I had a necklace on. Do you know where it is?"  
  
Oh well, so much for subtlety.  
  
Diamond chuckled low in his throat. The blue eyes locked with hers, holding them as a slender hand reached into the pocket of his white buttoned shirt. A slim gold chain dangled across his fingers as the shining oval slid from the fabric and swung free.  
  
The icy eyes pierced her. "I was afraid you might choke yourself, being unconscious with a chain around your lovely throat. And that just wouldn't do." Serena watched fearfully as, holding her gaze, he slowly extended his arm and let the chain slide from his fingers. The locket fell with a little gold flash and clatter upon the glass of his coffee table. Serena stared, mesmerized, at the tiny golden heap, the etched pattern of moon and stars shining softly in the light. Diamond's cold voice drew her back to his pale eyes. "I could never let anything bad happen to you," he whispered, smiling an awful smile.  
  
Serena stared at him, paralyzed. The little pile of gold chain and oval stood like an obelisk of fear between them, a overpowering monument of the domination that he held over her. Diamond sat back, still smiling, and sipped his wine. His entire posture dared her to try and take it. There it was, right in front of her. But the icy glint in his pale eyes said that he knew what she felt in the sinking pit of her stomach: She could not move for it. She was in his power, the fly merely twisting in the spider's web in a futile effort to escape.  
  
Her breath began to quicken, and she could not stop her eyes from darting to the unreachable door. Her heart was racing in circles around her frantic thoughts, like frightened little rabbits caught in a trap. Afraid that he would try something in the silence that stretched, Serena tried to swallow in a dry throat and quickly said something, anything: "Um.so, where exactly are we?"  
  
Diamond chuckled and took a long drink of his wine. "This," he said with a grand, sweeping gesture of his wine glass, "is my humble home away from home." He looked at her curiously. "Hm, I guess you are wondering what exactly has happened. Well, I found you, knocked out cold with that horrible bruise on your head, so I carried you up to my apartment to tend to you. Right at the bottom of my stairs, you were. As though fate had delivered you into my hands." The frosty eyes sparked with some unknown emotion. "What a fortunate turn of events, is it not, my dear Serena?" he asked softly.  
  
Serena forced herself to smile despite the freezing pinch of fear that twisted in her stomach. "Indeed," she lied, taking another pretend sip of her wine.  
  
Diamond's smile just wouldn't seem to go away. The contrast between its warmth and his cold, cold eyes was quite disturbing. "So tell me, Miss Hino, by what instrument did destiny deliver you to me?" he inquired, refilling his drained glass.  
  
Serena watched nervously as more alcohol disappeared down his throat. "Um.well, there was this woman.I asked her for directions, and she hit me. She thought I had money and I guess she was mugging me. Which reminds me, did you happen to see a small black cat anywhere near when you found me?"  
  
A muscle in Diamond's cheek jumped, the only indication that his smooth reply was insincere. "No, I didn't see any animal."  
  
But Serena saw the twitch, and she also saw for the first time that there were three parallel rips in the skin of his left cheek. Luna, she realized with a jolt. Luna scratched him for me.  
  
~*~It's a warning. Luna is connected to the silver crystal. She is your Reader, and she will try to tell you about the intentions of the people you meet.~*~  
  
Well, I really appreciate her scratching him for me, but I don't need any warnings to know that Diamond is a bad man and that I am in trouble, Serena thought back wryly.  
  
"You are not drinking your wine," Diamond pointed out suddenly.  
  
"Oh, I'm not?" Serena repeated dumbly, caught off guard. "Uh, well, I.never really much cared for wine," she improvised quickly.  
  
"Really?" he asked incredulously, obviously unable to believe that anyone could dislike something that contained alcohol. "Still, you ought to try and drink it. It will make your head much better. Pretend its medicine, as my mother used to say," he said with a grin.  
  
He was watching her very closely now. She wouldn't be able to fake it any more. Feeling a little panicky, she tried to laugh. "But I hate medicine, how will that help?"  
  
He chuckled. "All right, pretend it's coke. I don't care, as long as you drink it."  
  
Oh, shit. But that was what she must not do. Um.a little help, Serenity?  
  
~*~Get rid of it somehow. But whatever you do, do not drink it.~*~  
  
Great, thanks a lot. Get rid of it how? Diamond was watching her intently. She had to do something.  
  
She moved to set it on the edge of the coffee table, saying, "Well, just now I feel a bit queasy, I guess I'll try to drink a little later." but her hand trembled quite accidentally and the glass tipped off the edge and fell. Red wine splashed dark against the pale champagne carpet, instantly soaking into the fibers in a shocking stain.  
  
Serena gasped, and Diamond sprung up from his chair. For a moment she was afraid he would hit her, such anger blazed in his pale blue eyes, and she all but cowered beneath the expected blow. "Oh, God, I'm so sorry, I can't believe I did that, I'm so incredibly sorry," escaped her in a rush. Then his violence was abruptly gone and he was hurrying to the kitchen for some towels.  
  
It was lucky that Serenity, at least, had her wits about her.  
  
~*~Now, now, you will not get another chance!~*~ the lady shrieked, and Serena felt her arm snapping out almost of its own accord. Her fist closed around the cool metal of the locket on the table and snatched it up against her chest. The motion was barely finished when Diamond returned.  
  
"It's all right," he said in a tight voice as he blotted dark red out of his beautiful carpet. But it wasn't all right, and Serena was torn between glee at having disposed of the wine and distracted him long enough to retrieve the crystal, and fear of the anger that he was trying to hide from her.  
  
Oh, but if it weren't for Serenity, that opportunity would have just slipped right by. This was not good. Serena's wits were stretched too tight. She desperately needed a moment to regroup, collect herself, and form a feasible battle plan to put in action. This had all happened too quickly. Right after she had regained consciousness, she had been faced with the most dire situation of her life. It was too much. If she was going to save herself, she needed to be calm, prepared, and completely on her guard. She needed time to achieve that.  
  
"I.I need to use the bathroom," she whispered weakly, clutching the locket against her chest. It was the best she could come up with. She hoped he would take pity on her and buy it.  
  
"Down the hall," he said in a preoccupied tone, scrubbing at his carpet.  
  
It was all she could do to keep from running down the hallway. She escaped as gracefully as possible and put a lock between herself and Diamond as soon as she reached the little room. She only wished that bathrooms came with steel doors, deadbolts, and chains.  
  
She sank to the floor. Here was the second carpeted bathroom that she had occupied in her life.  
  
God help me, she thought, with her face in her hands. Somebody please help me. Darien, I'm scared. If I don't stop him.he means to rape me. Oh, God, someone please help me.  
  
~----------~  
  
Sapphire flinched as his father's meaty fist came banging down on the solid oak desk.  
  
"WELL WHERE IN FIERY HELL IS HE?!" the old man bellowed, his great, wrinkly face turning beet red up to the roots of his slicked-back silver hair.  
  
"I don't know, sir," Sapphire said as calmly as possible. He was afraid of his father, and the old man knew it. Mr. Darmoon never had been able to decide if this was a healthy trait or if it meant that his second son was a pansy. He usually tended to lean toward the pansy option, as Diamond, his eldest and favorite son, wasn't the least bit afraid of anything. But right now, he had a crisis on his hands, Diamond was not at work where he should be, and the senior CEO of Darmoon International was very displeased with his absent junior CEO.  
  
"Now you listen here," he spat, furious that something had to be trusted to his least favorite son, "You find your brother and you tell him to get his sorry ass in here before I personally wring his neck! You hear me?"  
  
"Yes, sir," Sapphire asserted smartly, only too glad to escape from the awful office. He did his best not to run out the door.  
  
"Hope he didn't give you too hard a time," the young secretary purred at him as he passed. She was pretty and found it thrilling to flirt with the powerful Darmoon's sons. Sapphire was the only one of the three who hadn't slept with her.  
  
The wall behind them shuddered as his father threw something heavy against it, and she flinched.  
  
"Ah, not too bad, thanks, Penny," he smiled at her, but kept walking, not in the mood for games.  
  
He knew exactly where Diamond was, of course. His brother had been even later than this before, and it was always for the same reason.  
  
Ah, my brother, he thought sadly to himself, all these women.haven't I told you that your little games would get you in trouble one of these days? And now, you see, I was right. He pressed the elevator button for ground floor and sighed. But we both know it won't matter. Father has always liked you best. You will be forgiven the instant he sees you again.  
  
The elevator lurched sickeningly to a stop and the doors parted on ground floor. Sapphire strode out into the warm sunshine, heading for his car and Diamond's apartment. He looked up at the sky and shuddered with a sudden dark feeling, like a shadow passing over his soul.  
  
Oh, Diamond, what are you doing?  
  
~----------~  
  
Darien heard Beryl's strained gasp as the tires squealed around a tight corner, but quite frankly, he wasn't worried too much about safe driving at the moment. His mind was occupied by one thought, and one thought only.  
  
Diamond had Serena.  
  
His car's squealing protests to being handled so roughly, accompanied by Beryl's panting gasps of fear, made a fitting background for the turmoil of his thoughts. Serena, small and terrified, cowered helplessly beneath the awful looming figure of a cackling Diamond in the worried theater of his mind. He turned the wheel hard, straining against the weight of the car and the weight of the images his all-too-apt imagination was conveying to him. Diamond smiling that cold smile at her.Diamond whispering intimate profanity in her ear. Diamond delighting in the shocked widening of her clear eyes. Diamond's hand on her bare thigh..  
  
"Shit!!" he cursed, slamming his foot down, the sound of antilock brakes shrieking through him as they tried to kick in. "Which way?!" he demanded wildly of the distressed female who was clutching at the door handles in the seat next to him.  
  
"Left, Left!!" she hurriedly directed, briefly freeing one hand to gesture at the correct street off the intersection. It was quickly replaced as the car nearly tipped on one side speeding around the turn. "And for God's sake, Darien, you can't save her if you kill the both of us in a car wreck first!"  
  
"Sorry," he said tersely, but didn't let up one bit of his pressure on the gas pedal. The stone in his pocket was burning into his thigh, spreading desperation throughout his body. The mental theater that his imagination was oh-so-kindly providing didn't help much to calm his sense of urgency, either.  
  
~*~Hurry, for God's sake HURRY, she cannot take him on her own!!~*~  
  
Not to mention that Endymion wasn't exactly being the voice of serenity. [AN: no pun intended, ha ha ha. ^_^]  
  
"Here, here, STOP!" Beryl's strained voice cried over the squeal of burning tires. The car finally shrieked to a blessed standstill, about three inches away from crashing into a sign that read, 'No Parking, Anytime.'  
  
Darien turned to the woman next to him, yanking off his seatbelt. "This is it?" he asked hurriedly.  
  
Still holding the handles of her door in a death-grip, she sat braced against the seat, panting, her eyes turned skyward. Her mouth moved in a silent prayer of thanks for having survived.  
  
"I'll take that as a 'yes,'" Darien muttered wryly, jogging around the car and yanking her door open for her. She stumbled out unsteadily, needing to lean a hand against the car to stand. She pressed her other hand over her racing heart.  
  
"Good God, I thought I was going to have a heart attack if you didn't kill us first. Yeah, this is it. Apartment 3E. On the second floor, to your right, I think," she quickly directed him.  
  
Despite the burning urgency that pulsed through him from the crystal, he felt a wave of gratitude. "Hey, Beryl.uh.thanks, I."  
  
Still leaning against the car and panting, she waved a hand dismissively at him. "Oh, go on, Chiba, it was no problem, aside from the risk to my life. Anyway, it's me who owes you." Her voice softened to a mere whisper that he had to strain to catch. "I wanted to thank you.for everything.it.means a lot."  
  
Pity washed through him. "Where will you go?" he asked, gently.  
  
She shrugged. "Back to my apartment, I guess, or maybe over to Emerald's.Maybe I'll even tell her what happened. I dunno.She's a bit shallow, I guess, but she's a good friend to me." Beryl drew the fur coat tighter about her shoulders, despite the warm mid-morning sun. Then she grinned a sarcastic grin and put a hand on her hip, looking like her old self again. "But I did risk my life to get you here, Darien, so just consider us even and don't come asking for favors. Now go on, noble hero, time to save your precious princess." She laughed sardonically and sauntered off down the street.  
  
Darien looked after her for a moment, a fur-clad figure in the summer heat. It's funny, he thought, turning toward the building and slowly pulling the heated stone from the little bag in his pocket. I guess you can know a person, but not really know them at all. To think that the last time I saw her, I wished that I would never see her again. And now look what's happened.  
  
With that thought, his mind jerked back to the situation at hand, to what *was* happening.  
  
~*~Hurry, it may already be too late. Alone, she will not be strong enough, but together, you can take on the black crystal!~*~  
  
With Endymion's urgent voice in his head and the golden crystal gripped strongly in his fist, Darien sprinted up the iron stairs.  
  
Behind him, a little black cat, crouched in the shadows of the staircase, looked up after him. Ears pricking up in recognition, Luna mewled worriedly at his retreating form.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	19. Ch. 18: Ashes to Ashes, Diamond Dust

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Why now, blow wind, swell billow, and swim bark!  
  
The storm is up, and all is on the hazard.  
  
--Shakespeare, Julius Ceasar 5.1.73-74 (Cassius)  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chapter Eighteen: Ashes to Ashes, Diamond Dust  
  
  
  
~*~All right, so you are ready now. It is time, my child. Go forth bravely.~*~  
  
Serena nodded and turned the doorknob, hearing the little latch click open as the door swung out. No more cowering in a bathroom. No more letting Diamond hold all the cards and being forced into merely responding to his plays. It was time to make a move herself. Time to be strong. Time for the showdown.  
  
Taking a deep breath, she focused on a single desire. I do not want Diamond to touch me. Heat pricked in her chest, and silver depths stirred slowly, rising, rising in her like a liquid heat through her breast.  
  
With power dancing in her like a living thing, she strode back into the living room.  
  
Diamond was draped over his leather throne, swirling a glass of white wine, now. He looked at her, and his easy manner instantly disappeared. The wine was slowly set down, the white-blond hair casually flicked behind an ear, but the icy eyes bore hard into her own. Diamond stood to his full height, and she had to look up at him. It was well that she had the silver shell of heated power, or her knees would have given out on the spot. Such an icy hatred shone in those pale eyes.  
  
"Now, now, little Miss Hino, just what kind of game do you think you're playing at?" he hissed, taking one small step toward her.  
  
Serena summoned a little more silver strength to keep herself from stepping back. "The same game you think you're playing at, I imagine," she told him in a strong voice that was bolstered by her power. "I am not a weak child to be duped with wine and easy manners, Diamond. I advise you to know exactly what it is you are dealing with before you make a move against me," she warned, heady with the rush of strength that filled her.  
  
The thin lips stretched and split in a hideous laugh, pulling wrinkles across the high cheekbones. The eyes grew impossibly colder, chilling the room. "I," he enunciated carefully, grinning horribly, "know *exactly* what it is I am *dealing* with, child." He took another small step forward, and it took all her power not to back away. "The question is," he said, very softly, "do *you*?"  
  
And with a sudden cry, he summoned his black power, and Serena was plunged into a roaring, blinding world in which heat flared silver across her vision to protect her from the dark force and all must be viewed through it. Her liquid force was struggling to remain wrapped around her body, the heat flaring almost unbearably hot all through her. Everything in the apartment was silver, with roaring, blowing edges and hazy forms. Diamond stood as a dark blot before her, a black void with two pinpricks of icy blue for eyes. He raised his arms with a terrible shriek, and black tentacles of dark power spun around him, rushing to fill the room.  
  
Serena screamed, trying to pull more power from the depths and finding none. It was a struggle just to remain standing braced against his power; she certainly could not find anything to attack him with. The world was roaring and she was failing, sinking fast. It was hopeless, he was stronger, older, more experienced, he could do anything and she could only stand as a weak child crying for him to leave her alone.  
  
~*~No, no, listen to me, the power has nothing to do with age or experience, all you have to do is believe-- ~*~  
  
But the roaring increased and Serenity's voice was drowned by a another, a dark voice full of sharp coldness, wailing through her ears, "You desire, yes, you desire. You will give yourself to me. It is useless to deny. Give yourself, you desire it…"  
  
No, no! cried a small voice out of the silver cloud that hung around her in the darkness. No, I don't want to! Go away, go away! Leave me alone! But it was hopelessly weaker, and the black voice was screaming at her, burrowing into her brain and drowning out her thoughts. Desperately, Serena grabbed for her source of strength, needing some action to take, anything rather than be dragged under the weight of that screaming voice. She fumbled at her locket and her fingers closed on the smooth surface of the wishstone, burning with heat, yet not singing her fingers.  
  
She held it high above her head, and the hazy cloud of silver power that struggled to shield her became a silver ring, cast about her like a lantern's light.  
  
This…this is so familiar… she thought wildly in the midst of the roaring, it's like…like my dream! My wishstone dream that I've been having.  
  
But her thoughts were cut off by crisis, for the silver circle was no stronger than the cloud and the dark force was every bit as strong, and a black tentacle was worming its way in. A sharp pain pricked through her, and she gasped and screamed in panic at the pain, desperately trying to shield herself, but it only grew stronger, burning in her. Agony flared strongly and she screamed again, desperately clutching at the wishstone.  
  
Help me, help me! I don't want to fall… In the dream, after the pain came the fall down into the black abyss, into the dark power to be lost forever. But her mind grasped desperately at the edges of something else, something else in the dream…before she could fall…strong arms and a golden warmth!  
  
Suddenly, amid the roaring, screaming pain, everything clicked into place with an almost audible snap. Serena's eyes grew wide with understanding.  
  
Darien! she screamed silently with all her might.  
  
And there were arms around her, and a blessed, blessed warmth joined her own, piercing into the cold pain that burned through her, driving it out and pushing it away. She felt strength rush through her, not just her own silver power but also a golden heat.  
  
She turned her head, and midnight blue eyes were smiling into her own, golden lights dancing in their depths. Her heart gave a great leap of joy, and she thought remorsefully, Serenity was right. I should have trusted him.  
  
He touched her cheek, and somehow his face was different and still the same all at once. "Serenity," he whispered, and the little mote inside Serena that was that ancient lady flooded through her consciousness, filling her with a double joy that was both hers and Serenity's.  
  
"Endymion," she whispered back, feeling the lady speak through her. "I knew you would come."  
  
With a sudden snap, the black tentacles recoiled, and some focus returned to the world. The black figure advanced, Diamond's features cast in a dark glow. He stopped in front of them, and when he spoke, his voice was changed: sharper somehow, but still every bit as cold.  
  
"Serenity and Endymion," he spat. "United again. How absolutely disgusting. So, little Serena, I suppose you have heard the legend?"  
  
"Yes," she whispered, feeling Darien's arms tighten around her. Her own voice sounded strange to her, as though warped by the power flooding through her breast. "The crystals were born from Serenity and Endymion's love."  
  
Diamond's lip curled and the black aura around him flared. "Foolish, sheltered child. You believe that? Someone has tried to protect you from the ugly truth."  
  
"And what is that truth, pray tell?" Darien snarled back at him, hugging Serena protectively into his chest.  
  
"Well, obviously," the dark man spat, "no one has told you of the third crystal carrier that awoke at that time. My ancestor: Morsumbra."  
  
"Morsumbra?" Serena repeated, fearfully. The name itself sounded like a hiss.  
  
[AN: "Morsumbra" is derived from Latin "mors," meaning "death", and "umbra," meaning "ghost" or "shade". Thus, "Morsumbra" is the closest name I could form to mean "Death Phantom."]  
  
Diamond smiled inside his dark cloud. "I do not believe in shielding innocents from ugly truths. So I will tell you what truly transpired at the time of precious little Serenity and Endymion's awakening." He chuckled as the two before him stared at him. "Listen closely, children. It's story- time!" Serena felt Darien's arms tighten around her as the dark voice began to speak, tinted with amusement at his own little joke.  
  
"Serenity was born the daughter of a wealthy family, that you probably already know. So of course, when she reached maturity, a worthy fiancé was chosen for her, a man of great social standing in their town: Lord Morsumbra.  
  
"He was very wealthy, and if not classically handsome, he was not bad- looking either. Besides, he absolutely adored Serenity, and she fancied herself rather well-off. They were married, had a small son, and lived happily together for a while.  
  
"They would have continued happily together, as well, were it not for one unfortunate event. Serenity loved horses, and after she came close to a nasty fall, Morsumbra insisted that his beloved wife have an instructor with her at all times to prevent another close call. Poor soul, how could he know that trying to protect his love would be his undoing?  
  
"For the instructor that came was young and strong and handsome, with raven black hair and pretty blue eyes, and soon all Serenity thought of was her precious *Endymion.*"  
  
Serena shuddered at the hatred with which that name was spoken. Darien's fingers were digging into her arm.  
  
"Morsumbra's sweet little wife left their son with a nurse and rode horses every day while he was at work, and blinded with loving trust, he did not see that more than the horses held her interest. For more than Serenity rode the horses, Endymion rode *her.*"  
  
Diamond paused for a moment to enjoy the sensation of his last remark. Serena felt caught between two warring forces in her: the desire to make him shut up, and some perverse need to hear the rest of the story. But the latter was winning, and she remained silent as the dark voice went on.  
  
"Morsumbra's hair was very pale, so blond it was almost white. Serenity's entire family had golden hair. But when her second son was born, his hair was black as night, and remained so as he grew, rather than changing to the blond that was expected. Morsumbra could think of no one in his family with black hair. A dark suspicion began to worry at his chest, and grew and grew until he could ignore it no longer.  
  
"No one in his family had black hair, but his wife's riding instructor was as raven-haired as they come.  
  
"He sat at his big work desk and he thought. And the more he thought, the more the black suspicion grew, until there was no longer any doubt. Serenity, his love, had betrayed him. The child was not his own, but instead belonged to a poor bastard of a filthy animal handler.  
  
"But Morsumbra loved his wife deeply, and clung to the hope that he could still be wrong, for after all, he had no solid proof, only the black weight in his chest. This he could have lived with; he could have borne the taint of suspicion in his marriage for a very long time, if only it meant he could still have Serenity.  
  
"However, foolish, little, blind Serenity gave him the proof that he so dreaded. For she could not bear the thought that the true father would never know his son, and she decided to engineer a way for Endymion to see him.  
  
"When she asked to have a dinner party and invite him, Morsumbra nearly cried aloud at the weight of grief that she dropped upon him. But he said yes, and Endymion was invited into his home.  
  
"It was pure torture for that poor soul, to watch them at the dinner table, throwing their lecherous glances at each other when they thought he wasn't looking. It was so painfully obvious, and when the son was brought in to Endymion, the way the man's face softened and the tender way he asked to hold the boy cinched any doubt that was left whatsoever.  
  
"Morsumbra excused himself and slipped away entirely unnoticed, so wrapped up in their child were the true parents. He sunk in agony to the floor in the next room. The black weight was terrible, so terrible that he almost could not bear it. But Morsumbra was not a weak man, and slowly the crushing grief began to change into something much, much stronger. A black wrath was flowing through his veins, and memory of how that man had looked at his wife fed the dark flames that were burning inside him.  
  
"He stood up, caught in the grip of a horrible certainty, and lifted his right hand to the heavens, and into it something dropped. Something that he had called forth without even knowing it had existed. Something wonderful, full of dark power to lend fuel to his rage."  
  
Diamond held up his right hand, opening it so that they could see the black stone that lay there. His pale eyes burned in the midst of black aura.  
  
"The black crystal," he whispered, clenching his fist down on it. Dark force flared up around them in response.  
  
"With this power, Morsumbra exacted his revenge. It was his stone, and it obeyed the desire of its master. In the other room, Endymion fell to his knees, groaning in agony. Serenity went wild with worry and knelt beside him, taking him into her arms, no longer bothering to conceal her lechery. Morsumbra stepped out into the room, holding the stone clenched in his fist and burning with a dark aura. He told his wife to step away, still loving her despite her betrayal. She refused to leave her lover, screaming at him to leave the man be, to have mercy. Morsumbra's heart came close to breaking, but was saved by the black wrath that poured through him. The floodgates of power would not hold, and dark force came exploding out of him, rushing at the couple on the floor.  
  
"But Serenity screamed, and out of her desire to protect her lover, she summoned the silver crystal from deep within the earth. His dark force was nearly turned aside, but the black weight had been festering too long in his breast to be annihilated so easily. The dark power pressed on against her feeble silver light.  
  
"She screamed her lover's name pitifully, and the man awoke. He somehow managed to call the golden crystal, and his power joined Serenity's.  
  
"Together, they were too much for him, and poor Morsumbra was utterly destroyed by the woman he had loved more than anything."  
  
Diamond was not smiling at all now. Serena felt herself trembling.  
  
"So you see, Miss Hino, Mr. Chiba, your crystals were not born from a pure love, but from a cruel betrayal. And mine…" Diamond raised his clenched fist, and black power began slowly to twist itself once more into curling, smoky plumes. "…mine was born for righteous revenge."  
  
Oh, Serenity, is it true? Serena begged.  
  
She could feel the weight of the ancient lady's grief as if it were her own. ~*~Not exactly as he tells it, but…what could I do? I did not love Morsumbra, and Endymion…I have always loved Endymion, and I always will. I could never bring myself to love another, not even when the other was my husband and the father of my first child.~*~  
  
She felt Darien's arms tight around her, and she thought she understood.  
  
"No regrets, right, Serena?" he whispered in her ear.  
  
"Of course not," she whispered back. And together, they began building the power.  
  
~----------~  
  
Black flames roared through him, consuming him in their power. Yes, yes, he cried, alive with the incredible sensation of unlimited power, power fed by his own black desires.  
  
The room was darkened with his force, the edges of everything roaring and blowing. The gold and silver huddled people in front of him were just like in another life, another memory within him.  
  
~*~Now! Now is the time to take them! Now is the time for revenge, at long last! ~*~ a voice exulted in his head.  
  
Diamond threw back his head and laughed in wild joy. Rushing power swirled about his upheld fist. He was the strongest this time. Nothing could defeat him. This time, he would be the victor, not the one blown away. He could feel it in himself. He had the most power, and he would triumph!  
  
"No! Stop, brother! You know you can not defeat them together! Please, don't do this!"  
  
Diamond turned his head, and his pale eyes focused on a bit of hazy blue and the familiar features of his younger brother. As though the black force magnified it, more strongly than ever, he saw the shocking emotion bared in those sapphire eyes. The strength of the love overwhelmed him.  
  
"Diamond, please! You cannot win!" And the blue eyes screamed, And I cannot bear to lose you!  
  
And suddenly, it was all very clear.  
  
He looked back at the hated double form before him. They were standing proudly upright, arms around each other and ablaze in gold and silver light, like a plume of fire striking through the darkness. Their aura resonated through the spacious chamber of his living room, shaking his beautiful pictures on his beautiful champagne walls.  
  
Sapphire was right. Oh, God, Sapphire had always been right.  
  
He turned back to his only trusted brother, the brother whose eyes shone with unhidden love. "Oh, but, my brother…" he whispered, as the black aura around him slowly died away, "you know as well as I--"  
  
He could feel their hesitation, but the force they had built was too much to contain. He stood upright before them, naked without his black shell. The crystal fell from his hand and rolled to Sapphire's feet.  
  
"--it is already too late."  
  
Jeweled light flooded through him, roaring in his ears. He screamed once, and everything faded away.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	20. Ch. 19: The Wish not Granted by a Wishst...

AN: The last chapter!!!!! Hard to believe, huh? *sniff* Well, it's been fun, but I guess it has to end sometime. I hope everyone enjoyed the story, will like the ending, and will read any new stories I post in the future! See you all soon, hopefully……  
  
~ryo-chan~ ^_~  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Mishi yume /sametemo iro no/ kakitsubata  
  
I wake and find  
  
the colored iris  
  
I saw in my dream.  
  
--Shushiki, from Japanese Death Poems, p. 306  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chapter Nineteen: The Wish Not Granted by a Wishstone  
  
The power drained slowly from him, leaving him weak and shaky. He slid to the floor, Serena a dead weight in his arms, passed out from the strain of upholding her power for so long.  
  
Darien held her, panting and watching with sad eyes as Sapphire knelt beside his brother.  
  
"Oh, Diamond," the man whispered, reaching out to pull the lids over the sightless, pale blue eyes. "You always were so full of pride. Proud that you were the one who carried the crystal. Proud that you could have any woman you wanted. Proud that father favored you and that you were the strongest of his children. But at the last, it is I--" and poor Sapphire choked on tears and stumbled, "I… who is proud of you."  
  
The blue head bent to the white one and Sapphire kissed his brother's forehead. Then he stilled with a sudden gasp and held his hand over Diamond's parted lips. He looked at Darien in wonder, tears streaming down his cheeks.  
  
"He breathes…He lives!" he whispered, disbelievingly.  
  
Darien drew in a shaky breath. "Well…we didn't want to kill him. Especially when he dropped his power like that. He was defenseless. But we couldn't pull the power back once it had built up that strongly."  
  
Sapphire took a deep breath and stood, tucking the black stone into the front pocket of the navy jacket he wore. He stooped down and pulled Diamond's still form into his arms, lifting his brother's body. A look of pain crossed his face. "He lives…but…he is gone. I can't feel him anymore. My brother is gone. Something else remains in his place." Sapphire seemed to struggle with the terrible knowledge for a moment before he could overcome his grief enough to speak.  
  
"Darien," he said, holding his brother, "I want…to say…"  
  
Darien couldn't bear to see him suffer so and held up a hand to silence him. "You don't have to say anything."  
  
Sapphire shook his head. "Yes, I do. I'm sorry. For not doing anything about this before. I knew what Diamond was doing in this apartment, why he had rented it and how he was getting all those women to come to him here. But I never did a thing about it. I never did anything against Diamond, no matter what he had planned. I always knew about it, of course, because I'm…was… his Reader and I'm tied to the crystal just as strongly as he was. But I'm not the chosen one and I can't control it like he could, and I've always been afraid of that power. I wanted to believe…that he would never hurt me, never use that power against me; but being a Reader, I have no illusions about the purity of human nature. Not even that of a brother. So I never raised a finger against him, no matter what horrible things he did." Sapphire sighed as he looked down at Diamond's still face. "I did love him, though," he said, very quietly.  
  
Darien felt a wave of sorrow for his friend. "Of course you did," he said, gently, "he was your brother. And you know, he loved you, too, even if he didn't show it."  
  
Sapphire's face grew dark in sorrow. "Yes, I did know that," he whispered, so softly that Darien almost didn't hear it.  
  
He was quiet, not knowing what to say to such a deep pain. But the moment of solemnity was interrupted by a most unwelcome sound.  
  
Darien stumbled unsteadily to his feet to answer the sudden, sharp ringing of the doorbell.  
  
A police officer stuck his head in the doorway as soon as it was opened, peering around suspiciously through the apartment.  
  
"We had a report of some disturbance, some shrieking and whatnot from next door," the man drawled, pushing his way inside. Several more officers followed him.  
  
"Mind if we come in?" one of them asked drolly.  
  
Darien apprehensively watched them take in Serena's still form on the floor and Diamond's limp body in Sapphire's arms.  
  
"Hey, ain't that the little girl who ran away that we're s'posed to be on the lookout for?" an officer exclaimed, pointing to Serena.  
  
Darien gulped as the first policeman looked him hard in the eye. "You got some explaining to do, son."  
  
~----------~  
  
Serena was dreaming in a confused way, something about silver lanterns, when her senses finally began to relay the real world to her.  
  
She felt soft fingers stroke down her cheek, and opened her eyes. Darien was smiling down at her.  
  
"Welcome back, Sleeping Beauty," he whispered tenderly. For a moment, there was only him, and Serena was happy and safe.  
  
Then it all came flooding back to her… Running and the woman and Diamond and the power rushing through her with Darien's arms around her…  
  
She gasped and sat up straight on the sofa that she had been laid on. She looked at Darien with wild aquamarine eyes. "What happened?! Is he…"  
  
"Dead?" Darien finished for her. "No, but…some might consider his position as good as dead."  
  
"What do you mean?" she whispered.  
  
"He's insane. Harmless, but absolutely senseless. His father nearly went insane himself when he found out. But it's all right, Sapphire took the reigns and Diamond is in a very good home now." Darien sighed and shook his head. He looked haggard, and it occurred to Serena that she must have missed a lot while unconscious. "I tell you, it's a damn good thing Sapphire was there when the police showed up."  
  
Fear seized Serena in a very cold grip. "Police?" she echoed faintly.  
  
Darien captured her hand and pressed it warmly. "Don't worry, everything's fine, thanks to Sapphire. He had an explanation for everything, and you know something? He is a very talented actor when he wants to be. The police ate everything he told them right up. And of course, I used a little of my crystal's power to, ah, help persuade them."  
  
"But what did he tell them?" Serena asked, unable to fathom how two unconscious people--one of them the son of the most powerful man in the city, the other a known runaway--could just be explained away, even with the help of the golden crystal.  
  
Darien chuckled at Sapphire's ingenuity. "Well, he told them that Diamond had always been a little crazy, but it was well covered-up, because of how scandalous it would be for his family if anyone found out that one of the Darmoon sons was insane. Anyway, he had always been harmless most of the time, or at least, until now. Sapphire said that the four of us had been over at his apartment for a drink--and there was a bottle of wine and some glasses on the table, so that checked out--when Diamond got really upset over nothing at all and attacked you, thus explaining your unconsciousness. And you had a nasty bruise on the back of your head, so that checked out, too. Then of course, Sapphire and myself had to protect ourselves from him, so he was subdued with some chloroform, explaining the lack of marks on his body. The chloroform bottle had been put back under the cabinet in Diamond's kitchen where it had been found, and so the police found it, where Sapphire knew Diamond kept it." Darien was grinning. "I tell you, the man's a genius." Then he sobered. "The only thing he couldn't explain was what you, a runaway from a foster household, were doing with us. And unfortunately, no amount of 'leaning' on their minds would make the officers dismiss the issue. That's why we're here."  
  
Feeling small and lost, Serena looked around for the first time, taking in the familiar desk with the little framed picture of a man with his arm around a woman with long, black hair. Her stomach sank with foreboding. She had sat on this couch exactly seven times before in her life. The one place that she had been trying so hard not to end up back in.  
  
Ms. Rei's office, again.  
  
She felt herself go cold. This was the end of all her bright hopes for a stable life, for finally winning her independence. She would go to another family, another home, somewhere far away from here, and she would never see anyone she loved again.  
  
Sensing her distress, Darien worriedly pulled her against him. She let herself be pulled, a dead weight, all the life drained from her. "Hey, come on, don't look like that," he said gently, rubbing her upper arms with his warm hands, "It's not what you think. Listen--"  
  
But he stopped short as the click of high heels outside became audible and the doorknob turned. A woman in a sharp business suit entered, swinging her long, black hair over her shoulder as she closed the door. The woman set her briefcase beside her desk and settled into the rolling chair, then folded her hands on the desk's surface and peered at the two on the couch over her oval glasses. She made a very forbidding figure until she smiled warmly at Serena.  
  
"Hello, Serena," Ms. Rei greeted her charge brightly. "Back again, are we?"  
  
It was a joke between them, but Serena didn't feel like laughing.  
  
Ms. Rei cleared her throat. "Well…um, let's see…" she said, shuffling through some papers in front of her. "As Mr. Chiba here has no doubt informed you, Mr. Diamond Darmoon has been found clinically insane and dangerous, and thanks to his capable brother, Mr. Sapphire Darmoon, who took over for the hysterical Mr. Wallace Darmoon, is now resting comfortably in a very nice institution. The police have dropped all charges of assault from Mr. Chiba and Mr. Sapphire Darmoon on grounds of self- defense, and any charges of assault on you that had been placed against Mr. Diamond Darmoon have been dropped on grounds of insanity."  
  
Serena was grateful to be resting on Darien's warm chest as Ms. Rei was speaking. This all felt so surreal, like a fragile shell that would be dropped from the world at any moment, exposing the painful sharpness of reality that lay inside.  
  
Ms. Rei adjusted her glasses and looked over them at Serena for a moment before continuing. "So that just leaves the matter of you, Serena."  
  
Serena's heart was frozen. What was the point of hoping anymore? Life had proven to her all too many times that hope was a useless, painful gateway that only opened the way to getting all your other emotions stomped on. Another foster home, jail…it was all the same. Neither would have Darien in them. Or anyone else that she had ever cared about, for that matter.  
  
Everything she loved was taken from her. That was how life worked. No point in fighting against it.  
  
"Don't bother, Ms. Rei," she said flatly, in a dead sort of voice. "I don't mind confessing. Yes, I destroyed all that equipment and I healed Sammy and ran away. And yes, I've been hiding out and lying to Darien to keep him from turning me in. And yes, I ran away from him, too, when my cover was blown, and I broke into his apartment and stole an umbrella. Yes, I am an awful person, and I don't much care anymore, so just tell me where exactly I'm supposed to go now and I'll go quietly, without whining at all, I promise." She smiled a very small smile, unaccompanied by any warmth in her eyes, for Ms. Rei had often complained about her whining when she was a child.  
  
To her surprise, the woman smiled back at her, but with a caring sparkle in her deep indigo eyes. "No, I doubt that you'll whine about where you are to go now. As you know, you are still underage and cannot live independently. As for jail, well, there is no need to worry about that. I believe that breaking into Mr. Chiba's apartment, if even discovered by our esteemed police force, can be easily explained, as he is quite likely to testify that you had merely lost the key that he had given you. The hospital incident…now that, indeed, was quite strange…has been mostly hushed over. Doctors don't like to have it known that there are things they can't explain, and the hospital has worked quite hard to shake the media off its back and keep the whole incident as quiet as possible. There have been no charges pressed against anyone. And as for running away…" Ms. Rei gathered up some of the papers on her desk into a pile and straightened them. "Well, I haven't been working here for twenty years for nothing. I have a bit of weight to pull, and everyone was just so glad to find you safe and sound… So everything is taken care of." Ms. Rei beamed at Serena and brought the edge of the stack of papers she was holding down on the glass-covered surface of her desk, making a smacking sound as the sheets fell into place in a neat stack.  
  
Serena's heart sank. "So I'm going to another home?"  
  
"You aren't happy? All this trouble you've put everyone through-- you come out completely unscathed, with absolutely no consequences, and you aren't the least bit glad? Grateful? Feeling blessed?" Ms. Rei asked, puzzled, peering over the rim of her oval glasses.  
  
"Jail, another home, what's the difference?" she muttered sullenly. Darien's arm slipped around her shoulder. She looked up into warm blue eyes gazing sadly into her own.  
  
Darien didn't say anything, and Ms. Rei chuckled loudly into the silence. Serena looked at her in bewilderment. The woman kept chuckling.  
  
"Oh, I think you'll find that there's a rather big difference. And really, 'another' home isn't quite correct…you really should say that you're going back to a home…"  
  
"Wh-What?" Serena stammered, the beginnings of a tiny hope creeping up into her. She immediately tried to squash it, but she couldn't stop her heart rate from increasing.  
  
"It's all right here, just waiting to be signed," Ms. Rei said, her indigo eyes sparkling with mirth as she waved the stack of papers. The woman stood up excitedly and clicked her high heels across the room to place a hand on the doorknob. "Serena," she announced, with an air of happy importance, "You're going to go back…"  
  
"…and live with us!" cried a gleeful voice as the door was pulled open.  
  
Serena watched in numb amazement as a sandy-blond little streak hurtled itself through the door way and into her lap. Little arms wrapped around her and the tow-haired head buried itself into her neck.  
  
Not believing, she put a trembling hand on the little boy's back. "Sammy?" she whispered, voice quavering.  
  
The head lifted to reveal wide green eyes and a broad grin. "I missed you, Serena!" he said, in a voice she well recognized. Then he buried his face in her neck once more, tightening his little arms around her.  
  
She hugged him back and looked up at Ms. Rei with a uncomprehending expression. Mr. and Mrs. Tsukino were standing next to the woman, beaming at Serena and their son.  
  
"What…" was the only word her stupefied brain would supply.  
  
"Like I said, it's all right here," Ms. Rei happily explained, brandishing the papers once more.  
  
Irene Tsukino took over the explanation for the social worker, her eyes shining as she beamed at Serena. "Well, we were hoping that you wouldn't mind coming back to us, Serena, dear. What you did for Sammy… Well, we're very grateful. And we were even thinking…well, that is, assuming you would want it…well…what I'm trying to say is…"  
  
Ken Tsukino put an arm around his stuttering wife and, smiling at Serena, finished for her, "What she's trying to say is, we'd like to adopt you."  
  
Serena's breath froze in her lungs. Her heart tripped and stumbled in its palpitations. "Adopt…me?" she whispered, incredulous.  
  
"Yes," said Irene happily, once again recovering her voice. "We know that you'll be going off to college soon and that you'll be eighteen and old enough to be independent in just a couple of months, anyway, but, well… We feel that everyone should have a permanent family--you know, people to care about you and support you whenever you need it. Besides, Sammy has just been absolutely crushed these past couple days without you. And well… we missed having a daughter around, too. So, if you want… Ms. Rei's drawn up all the papers for us. We just have to sign."  
  
Serena's mind reeled. A family… a real family… people to care about her and support her whenever she needed it. Could cruel, cold Life really grant such a wish?  
  
"I…would love that," she managed to choke out. The Tsukinos broke into grins and Sammy let out a great shout of delight, sitting back on her lap to clap his hands.  
  
"But wait," she countered quickly, a sudden thought occurring to her. Irene paused worriedly in the middle of reaching for a pen. "What about my cat, Luna?" Serena pointed out quietly, remembering Irene's distaste for animals.  
  
"Don't worry about that." Darien's voice came calmly, speaking for the first time since Ms. Rei had entered the room. Serena turned to him in surprise. He smiled at her and continued, "I found her under Diamond's steps and took her back to my apartment for the night."  
  
"Night?!" Serena interjected quickly.  
  
"Yeah, you've been out for a while. You passed out yesterday and you've been unconscious ever since. Anyway, she seems quite happy there, though she misses you a bit, I think. I wouldn't mind keeping her for you, if it would help keep harmony in your new home. Because," and Darien's voice dropped to a whisper that was meant for only her, "Mrs. Tsukino's right, Serena. Everyone should have a family, no matter what." His midnight eyes penetrated hers meaningfully, full of concern and….she was finally able to admit it…..love.  
  
Struggling against a sudden attack of tearing eyes, she sniffed ferociously and said, "Oh, all right then. I'll go home with you guys and stay this time."  
  
"Yay!" Sammy exclaimed, hugging her tight. She hugged him back for all she was worth, disgusted with herself for being so sappy, but unable to keep from crying in joy.  
  
……..  
  
In the flurry of papers and legal mumbo-jumbo to be settled, it went largely unnoticed as Serena leaned across the couch and poked Darien in the ribs.  
  
"Quite a noble, self-sacrificing offer thou dost make in the care of mine cat, good sir," she whispered in his ear, glad that Sammy's mother had plucked the boy off her lap and into a hug.  
  
"Tis my pleasure, fair lady," he played along, slipping an arm behind her.  
  
"However…" she drawled coyly, dragging a finger lightly down his chest. "Methinks thou maketh thy offer largely to lure me back to thy apartment again to see thee and the furry beast."  
  
Darien grinned rakishly at her, with a look in his midnight blue eyes that made her stomach flutter. "Then thou thinketh absolutely correct," he murmured close in her ear.  
  
She giggled, and met his intense gaze shyly, resting one hand on his warm chest. His grin softened, and he drew his thumb across her tear-streaked cheek, cupping her face in a gentle hand.  
  
His eyes were serious, and shining softly with the quality that she had correctly identified as love. "You know something, Serena?" he whispered softly.  
  
"Yes, and I love you, too," she whispered back, an incredibly warm feeling in her chest.  
  
His brief look of shock was slowly erased by a soft, wonderful smile. "My Serena," he whispered, savoring the syllables.  
  
A shiver ran through her at the sound of his voice on her name. A pleasant sort of shiver, though, and as his lips slowly lowered to hers, she thought, I suppose I'll just have to get used to being happy.  
  
And then he kissed her, and there was absolutely nothing else in the world.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
.  
  
.*.  
  
..~*~fin~*~..  
  
. .  
  
*  
  
.  
  
.  
  
. 


End file.
